Colombian by birth, Maria began her culinary journey working as a Pastry Chef with the infamous Rausch Brothers in Bogotá. From there, she spent four years at Roberto Solís' Nectar restaurant in Mérida, Mexico, working her way up to Chef de Cuisine, and later moved onto Chicago to work at Grace (3 Michelin Stars) and Alinea (3 Michelin Stars), followed by Noma (3 Michelin Stars). Following her stint in the U.S, she worked at the legendary institution Mugaritz (2 Michelin Stars), initially as a Chef de Partie and then eventually as the third female Chef de Cuisine. Maria moved back to Latin America to strengthen her culinary skills at MashipiLAB in Ecuador and Maximo Bistrot in Mexico City as the Chef de Cuisine. She most recently worked at Oxalis (1 Michelin Star) in Brooklyn and is now a freelance private chef.