Maria is an Associate at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime since July 2022. She is a Colombian national, currently based in Boston, pursuing her MS in Security and Resilience Studies at Northeastern University. Her work has focused on international security issues including geopolitics, policy, global risk and international crime. Along those lines, Maria has worked with consultancy companies like buho media and Strategy and Global Risk in Colombia and the Colombian Civil Defense and the Mission of Colombia to the United Nations in New York. The latter experience allowed her to engage in multilateralism, global security and develop her research on disinformation, international conflicts, cybersecurity and resilience.

Maria holds a MA in Strategy and Geopolitics from the Colombian School of War and a BA in International Relations from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana from Bogota, Colombia.