I’m Maria
Hi :) People Leader, Pattern Breaker, and Equity Advocate.
I'm an advocate for women's safety, voice, and worth, and a catalyst committed to breaking the cultural patterns that silence and diminish women, and keep them from leading fully. I bring visibility to the lived experiences women are taught to ignore, minimize, or survive quietly, so women can step up, step out, and move through the world with greater awareness, agency, and power.
For a long time, I tried to do things the "right" way. Be professional. Be agreeable. Don't be too loud. Don't make things uncomfortable. The rules women are often taught early on.
Like many people, I also moved through the world of personal development, coaching frameworks, and efforts to fit myself into systems that never quite felt designed for me.
And for a long time, I struggled to own my voice. To take up space. To step into visibility without shrinking, apologizing, or waiting for permission. I knew I had something to say. I just kept finding reasons not to say it.
But over time, I started noticing patterns I couldn't ignore. In how women experience work, relationships, culture, identity, and expectation. The conditioning we absorb. The things we're taught to accept. The things we all quietly recognize but rarely speak out loud.
So I stopped pretending.
And honestly? That's when things got a lot more interesting, and a lot more fun.
Now I focus on the spaces just beneath the surface. How systems of power and gender conditioning shape women's lived experience across work, relationships, identity, leadership, and culture. The lessons I learned the hard way. The mistakes I made. And the more honestly I speak, the more I hear the same response: "I thought it was just me."
That's the space I care about.
The Femme Cast podcast
Welcome to The Femme Cast. Saying the quiet parts out loud about women, power, gender conditioning, identity, relationships, work, religion, politics, bodies, and culture and the systems shaping modern womanhood, and what it really looks like when women step up and lead.
This isn't a space about fixing yourself. It's a space for noticing, naming, and understanding the forces that have always been there, you just didn't have the language for them yet. And for finally owning the voice and leadership that was always yours.
Some episodes will fire you up. Some will make you uncomfortable. Some will feel like finally cracking a code you've been staring at your whole life.
This is not another self-help show. It's a catalyst for systemic change, transformation, and women stepping into the leadership and visibility the world tried to talk them out of.
Fun Facts About Me
My family will forever call my podcast ‘The Maria Show’
Potty mouth is an understatement.
I don’t have an inside voice (and honestly don’t want one).
I wanted to be a surfer before I’d ever seen the ocean.
I once asked Santa for “a life of leisure.”
My happy place? Somewhere between the jungle, the ocean, and the volcanoes.
I’ll give up coffee when… oh right, never.
Thunderstorms, coyotes, and moonlight make my soul sing.
Music is always playing, and I’ll laugh or sing out loud even if no one else is around.
I’ve reinvented my wardrobe—and my life—more times than I can count.