Maria Barnes
Writer/Producer/Director
With more than 20 years managing, producing, directing, writing and editing media projects, Maria is an award-winning professional whose creative vision is grounded in an ability to work within production budgets, meet deadlines and ensure quality control. Having produced and directed hundreds of promotional, informational and educational programs for a variety of government and private sector organizations, she is an adept storyteller. Her projects have taken her across the lower 48, to Hawaii and Guam – as well as to Japan, Spain, Iceland, Germany, Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates. In 2014, ZHM assigned her to the National Science Foundation, where she spent three years as a Communications Specialist, producing print and video products to inform staff about the agency’s relocation to Alexandria, Virginia.
Maria’s television credits include cable television shows as well as a nationally-syndicated television series, The Real Estate Digest, which was placed with NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates nationwide. Her public television credits include TechnoPolitics, a weekly public affairs series and The World of Chemistry, a 26-part educational series. Her work as an in-studio director of live, interactive programs includes satellite training broadcasts for the U.S. Postal Service.
Maria earned a Master of Arts in Film & Video from The American University, a Bachelor of Arts in both International Studies and French from Miami University and a Diploma of Superior Studies from the University of Paris (La Sorbonne). She has been an adjunct faculty member of both The American University and Northern Virginia Community College, where she taught courses in video production.