Profile
Maria Elena Fernandez is the Corps Excellence Regional Manager for Region 3 (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia). She is an award-winning journalist and author who lives in Miami, Florida. An entertainment journalist for 15 years in Los Angeles, Fernandez has covered Hollywood for New York magazine, Vulture, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, and NBC. Before moving to the West Coast, Maria Elena spent many years on the crime beat at The Washington Post and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and covered the AIDS epidemic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. A two-time author, Maria Elena’s nonfiction book, “And Don’t F&%K It Up: An Oral History of RuPaul’s Drag Race,” was published by Grand Central Publishing in 2023. Her children’s book, "The Secret of Fern Island," was published in 1996 under a pseudonym so that she wouldn’t be stalked by screaming children. A longtime member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Maria Elena is a mentor for The Latinas in Journalism Mentorship Program and has mentored at Write Girl in Los Angeles. In her spare time, Maria Elena obsesses over her dogs, husband, food, wine, and precious beach time. Her most favorite thing in the world is traveling.