Maria Smith joins the HipHop Caucus as the Executive Assistant to Managing Director and COO, Liz Havstad, with over 15 years of administrative experience supporting C-Suite level executives in the non-profit space. She has a strong passion for working with underserved communities and helping to bridge the gaps in educational inequity. She has worked exclusively in the non-profit space since beginning her administrative career, more recently supporting the mission and goals of educational research organization, AIR. In addition to her administrative duties, she provided project management and leadership on several internal and external Communications projects.
Smith formerly served as Program Manager for INROADS, College-Links, DC. The non-profit program focused on college and career development for over 50 high school students in the D.C. area ranging from 14-18 years old. The year-long program targeted underserved, minority students by providing monthly programming based around financial literacy, essay writing, business development, and social enterprise.
She is a native of Washington, DC with a BA in English from Spelman College and a MA in Strategic Communications and Public Relations from Trinity Washington University. In her free time she enjoys cooking, volunteering in her community and at church and spending time with her family.
