AWC-DC Matrix Awards 2004

Maria Rodriguez, President
Vanguard Communications

In 1987, Maria Rodriguez co-founded Vanguard Communications, a full-service public relations firm committed exclusively to the marketing and promotion of social issues. Her vision was to challenge and inspire others to make a difference in the world. Seventeen years later, Maria is president and sole owner of the firm she helped create, and her efforts to influence social issues through communications have had significant impacts on her employees, her community and society as a whole.

For over 20 years, Maria has promoted some of the most important issues on the public agenda, both on the national and community level. At Vanguard, Maria leads a team of more than 35 public relations and communications professionals who work to advance change in areas such as health, sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, education and consumer rights. Under Maria’s leadership, staff commitment to these issues is tremendous, both at an individual level and company-wide, including hosting several community-service oriented holiday celebrations where employees assembled care packages and signed cards for battered women’s shelters, senior rest homes and AIDS patients.

With an extensive background in public relations, social marketing, and communications, Maria has managed many public education and social marketing campaigns for a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations and Government agencies. She is especially knowledgeable about health care, education, and environmental protection issues. Her communications expertise includes strategic planning, cultural competence, media relations, alliance building, and event management.

Prior to founding Vanguard, Maria served as media director of a boutique public relations firm where she managed and implemented consumer education initiatives on behalf of the National Institutes of Health, trade associations and major corporations.

In recognition of Vanguard’s “measurable growth and undeniable integrity,” PR Week selected Vanguard Communications as the first Hispanic woman-owned firm to earn the highly coveted PR Week PR Agency of the Year Award in 2003.

In all of her work, the importance of culture and family has played a special role in Maria’s career. As a Hispanic business owner, she wants to encourage other Hispanics and people of color to consider entrepreneurial career options. Maria was honored to be selected Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Hispanic Magazine at their 2003 Latina Excellence Awards, and to be included in Hispanic Business Magazine’s 2003 list of 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States.

A native Washingtonian, Maria is a first generation American whose Spanish parents immigrated to the United States in 1957 from Venezuela. She graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, and lives with her husband in Arlington, Virginia.

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