Maria is a community volunteer and the Former Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and former Executive Director of Wake County Human Services. She is currently a board member at the AJ Fletcher Foundation and has served on boards and committees for Southeast Raleigh Promise, Oak City Cares, Advance CHC, Shaw University, Triangle Learning Consortium, the North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs, SECU Foundation, and Wake County Public School Safe Schools. She is a founder of the Wake County Healing Place and most recently co-chaired its multi-million-dollar capital campaign.