When she's not climbing the highest peaks in the world, Maria jumps out of airplanes, coaches athletes and speaks at companies and schools. Trying to expand minds and encourage people to explore who they are but more importantly, who they want to become. She uses her story as a classroom drawing a map of how we can make life, not only worth living but also, the most beautiful adventure of all.
Climbing big mountains wasn’t really a part of Maria’s childhood. By the age of 24 she had never known anyone who had climbed a mountain, let alone climbed one herself. Having mountaineering as a lifestyle was a vague idea, but is today a reality. Maria has now, 8 years later, become a skydiver and climbed the highest peak on earth. Mount Everest. She is what few people know exists, a professional adventure athlete.
As a child Maria was very curious and tried almost every sport in the book. After climbing the highest mountain in Africa life as she knew it was over, and without knowing it she had already started a new one. Maria describes it as ”the worst and best thing she ever did”. All through her life she was obsessed with the feeling of ”fear” and the refusal of being restricted by it. After years of self-discovering and studies in psychology Maria used her fears and passion as a way of navigating through life, finding purpose, curiously challenging her limits and helping other do the same.
Besides a life as a professional adventure athlete Maria is also a coach and speaker. As she puts it ”I love the feeling of sharing the things that I’ve learned through mountain climbing and how it’s so universal regardless of what you do in life. If that can inspire, help or benefit someone else along the way, it truly gives a purpose to the journey and only then my life makes sense.”