Maria Rodriguez

Maria Rodriguez leads a team of 25 staff at Vanguard Communications — the PR agency she co-founded with a business partner in 1987 — to advance social change and champion causes that help protect the health and well-being of our planet and its people. Today, this business-minded PR professional is the sole owner of the award-winning firm she helped create. With a keen eye on cultural and linguistic competence and the needs of underserved populations, Maria and her colleagues work with the philosophy (and tagline) of “People. Purpose. Progress.” 

As the daughter of Spanish immigrants, Maria learned the importance of education and hard work early in life. Finding her true “calling” as a PR practitioner, she has been honing her skills in strategic communications, social marketing, media relations, inclusive community engagement and event production for more than 35 years. Maria’s work has focused on reducing infant mortality, preventing substance abuse, rallying communities to address underage drinking, promoting civic engagement, educating women about the risk of heart disease and bringing attention to the mental health needs of children and youth. She has provided content expertise for countless communications and marketing campaigns for a broad spectrum of national and community-based nonprofit organizations, foundations and government agencies. 

Maria has been nationally recognized for her work, including being inducted into the PRSA National Capital Public Relations Hall of Fame for her lifetime contributions to the public relations profession and recently being honored by the Washington Business Journal as a “Woman Who Means Business.” Maria also has contributed her expertise through board positions with the National Press Club, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, the National Latino Behavioral Health Association, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. 

She has demonstrated her commitment to mentoring young communications professionals and cultivating diversity in the profession through Comunicadores for the Future, a joint program she conceptualized and funds with The George Washington University’s (GW) Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute. A native Washingtonian, Maria graduated from GW with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.