Mariana Atencio

Mariana Atencio is a Peabody-Award-winning journalist, author, viral speaker and media founder. Originally from Venezuela, Mariana had one dream growing up: to shed light on the stories and voices that didn’t make the headlines. While studying at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, she became part of the student movement for democracy. She came to the United States on a scholarship from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Over the course of 10 years, Mariana became an anchor at Univision and a national correspondent at NBC News. Her journalism career led her to travel the world to report on some of the most volatile conflicts of our time, such as natural disasters, mass shootings, and refugee crises in places like Haiti, the Syrian border, and Hong Kong. For her reporting, she has been honored with a Peabody Award, a Gracie Award, three national Emmy nominations, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Presidential Award. Her TEDx talk, “What makes YOU special?” went viral in 2017. It tackled authenticity and belonging with a fresh perspective. It has over 24 million views and has been translated into 13 languages. Delving deeper into her message, she wrote “Perfectly You” in English and Spanish—her best-selling memoir—which was selected by Audible and AppleBooks as a ‘must-read’. Now, she’s quickly become one of the most sought-after corporate speakers. She founded her own media company, “Golike Media,” and has partnered with Microsoft, Accenture, JP Morgan, YouTube, Pepsico, Google, and the United Nations, among others, to inspire and empower their leaders and organizations to embrace change by tapping into the power of their uniqueness. Mariana is a 2021 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and spokesperson for the American Latino Museum in D.C. Her latest original release is the true crime investigative podcast series Lost In Panama, about the disappearance of two women in the jungle. The show made Apple Podcasts’ top 10 list.