Her first book, Windows to the Soul, explored newly found spirituality and touched on issues of cultural pride, sisterhood and love. She wrote and designed that collection of poetry while a student at Shippensburg University, where she earned her BA in Communications/ Journalism and Masters Degree in Communications Studies.

Maria has been performing her poetry since the mid 1990’s and has ‘blessed the mic’ at venues in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Washington D.C. She was one of the stars of "Court Street Poetry Jam", a spoken word production of original poetry that ran for 3 weeks at Open Stage of Harrisburg in 2004. Her poetic honors include winning two poetry slams in Harrisburg, PA in 2002 and a poetry contest at www.christian-poetry.com.

She and her father, Richard James, co-host Omari's Place, an interactive radio talk show on 720AM the Rock on Saturday's at 4:00 PM.