Maria is one of those rare personalities who is instantly recognized by her first name by millions of viewers and listeners. Her programme "New York-New York" has been watched and loved by nearly 100 million people all over the world. At the age of 37 she is a veteran reporter, having hosted TV and radio shows in the US, Russia, Western Europe and Israel and and having written for a variety of Russian and English language publications. 

Maria is Editor-at-Large for MT~NewsWire™, a leading English-language web-based news and information service focusing on developments in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and a producer for MTTV Syndicated  News. Maria also contributes to WebEsquire.com, a legal news and webcast service. 

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Born in Novosibirsk, the capital of Russian Siberia in 1965, Maria knew since early childhood that she wanted to be a writer. At 18 she traveled to Moscow to enroll in the Gorky Literature Institute, the home to a host of world renowned authors and reporters.

Having graduated with high honors in 1989, she immigrated to the United States and in 1994 was naturalized as a US Citizen.

Maria settled in New York City and joined RTN-TV as a newswriter and subsequently a correspondent and field producer.

In 1993 Maria accepted a job as a newscaster and talk show host for WMNB, a New Jersey based, multi-language national TV and radio network.

Starting in 1995 she worked for two years as a senior editor for the Russian daily NRSlovo, and wrote a daily column "New York."

Maria returned to broadcasting in the fall of 1996 - hosting a weekly show "New York-New York" for TV-6, Moscow, the Russian National TV network, eventually becoming its New York Bureau Chief. Simultaneously she hosted a weekly 2-hour radio show for WMNB.

Since late 2000, Maria has worked on her book of short stories "My Soul.com", while continuing to produce TV programmes for TVR Network and publicly funded Moscow Culture TV Network.  

In 2003 Maria joined NTV International, a European based satellite TV network as a political anchor and a talk show host. 

In June of 2003, Maria was named the "Queen of Poetry", having won the first prize at the prestigious  poetry competition in London. Since that time she has been on the Jury of that competition.