"Everyone in my family is in medicine, or studied to be in medicine. I wanted to find some other way to provide a public service."

So Maria Antonia chose journalism, and earned a degree from the University of Miami. After graduation, Maria worked at radio and television stations in Miami, Little Rock, and New Haven, Connecticut before coming to KMBC-TV in 1984.

Maria serves as a general assignment reporter for KMBC's newscasts.

In March 2003, Maria took local reporting to a new level when she covered the initial stages of the war in Iraq from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

In 1998, Maria was the only local reporter allowed into Cuba to cover the papal visit by John Paul II.

Maria has earned numerous professional awards. She has won four Emmys for her work, and was also selected by the Radio-Television News Directors Association as the winner of three regional Edward R. Murrow awards. She has received awards from the Missouri Broadcasters association, Association of News Broadcasters of Kansas and the Kansas City Press Club.

Maria has also earned awards for her service to the community. Among them: The Heart of Gold Award from the YWCA, a Leadership Award from the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Community and a National Award from the National Bone Marrow Registry, for raising awareness about transplants and the need for donors, through a special series of reports.

Maria has been involved with the Dream Factory, the Guadalupe Center, the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon, El Centro, the Variety Club, and is the first woman to serve as chairperson of the Kansas/Western Missouri March of Dimes, WalkAmerica.

E-Mail Maria Antonia.