Maria Baltazzi
Maria Baltazzi is a Los Angeles-based television producer, known for her work on a variety of unscripted, action-adventure shows. Some of her credits are working as one of the original four producers on CBS's Emmy award-winning show, "Survivor" and executive producer on TLC's record-breaking "Sarah Palin's Alaska", which debuted at 5 million viewers. The first episode of this eight-part series was the most watched program launch in the network's history. Maria has done a variety of shows that have aired on CBS, History, TLC, Discovery, and A&E. In 2001 , she received an Emmy for the first two seasons of "Survivor". That same year, she was also Emmy nominated for "Eco Challenge": Borneo. After seven seasons, Maria left "Survivor" to begin developing shows and showrunning. In 2009, in association with Mark Burnett, Maria developed and executive produced History Channel's critically acclaimed "Expedition Africa": Stanley & Livingstone. Then, she went on to produce TLC's hit series, "Sarah Palin's Alaska" in 2010. Maria's production banner is called "Sojourn" (www.sojourn-usa.com). Early career. Maria began her television career shortly after graduating from San Diego State University, where she received a Bachelor  of Science in Marketing with a minor in Broadcast Management. Later, she attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where she and a classmate were the first two women to graduate with an MFA in film. Her first job in television was at KCST-TV, an NBC affiliate, in San Diego. She worked in the Traffic Department, inputting commercials into the station's daily program log. After that, she spent almost five years planning media campaigns for KRON-TV, an NBC affiliate in San Francisco. Later, she moved on to Los Angeles and switched her career to production . She started out as a TV show researcher and worked her way to being a producer/director. Personal life. Maria has been on all seven continents and to forty-eight countries. She's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in November 2008 and trekked to Everest Base Camp in May 2009. She is a distance walker and completed the New York City Marathon in November 2009, the Los Angeles Marathon in March 2010 and the Athens Marathon in October 2010. Her most recent marathon was the Great Wall Marathon in China in May 2011. She does marathons as a fundraiser for Lance Armstrong 's Livestrong Cancer Foundation. Marathon Walking Times: 2009 New York: 6:45:57 2010 Los Angeles: 6:49:00 2010 Athens: 6:55:29 2011 China: 6:20:17