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Maria Dorfner began her broadcasting career when she was
18-years-old and attending Pace University in New York City. She worked at Barnes & Noble bookstore all through high school and continued working there during college.
In addition to working in the bookstore, she worked part-time in the evenings at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC as a sales associate in the petite department. One fateful evening, she was asked to fill-in on the men's tie floor.
It was there that she had a chance meeting with Connie Chung, the then anchor of "Sunrise" at NBC News, who was purchasing a tie for Gerry Solomon, then Executive Producer of "Sunrise".
30 Rock was right down the street from Saks and Maria spent her lunch hours there filling in for Johnny Carson on the mock set of the Tonight Show presented during tours. She knew she wanted to work there one day. She didn't know working in the men's tie department at Saks would be the start of a two decade plus career.
Connie Chung and Maria struck up a conversation and discovered they had similar interests. Both English majors with political science minors with a passion for journalism. Connie referred Maria to NBC News, where Maria immediately began an internship within the news division. Connie's advice was never let them know you can type or you'll get stuck as a secretary.
When Maria met Gerry Solomon on her first day at NBC he gave her a lucky dollar & wrote #1 on it. He told her to hang onto it. She still has it in her wallet.
Maria practically lived at NBC as it was open 24/7 and she was able to learn hands-on skills from the best in the industry. A kid in a candy store. She asked lots of questions and wanted to learn every aspect of producing a program to promoting it. Even working the reception desk at the Today Show was a lesson in what viewers responded to or didn't on-air. She went out in the field with producers, camera crews and reporters. She attended overnight edit sessions (they were catered back then) for a multitude of news specials. Edit Room 6. The Rolls Royce of edit suites.
During the day, she worked as Bryant Gumbel's assistant and as a researcher at all NBC News programs, including the Today Show. She also filled in for Maria Shriver during rehearsals of a news program Maria hosted with Bryant Gumbel. Additionally, she volunteered to work all major sporting events and election coverages. Her boss dubbed her a "Super Intern". Maria's sense of humor even got her a call from Lorne Michaels. She wrote a letter to him telling him she thought she wanted to be a news anchor, but that her personality felt stifled within the news division. He called to tell her she was "hilarious". She has yet to meet Mr. Michaels in person.
During her tenure at NBC, Maria worked as a researcher in NBC Network News Graphics, and was trained at Quantel Video and Pratt Institute in graphics design and production utilizing paintbox. Upon graduation, Maria was hired full-time at NBC in NYC.
At the age of twenty-five, she commuted to Ft. Lee, NJ from Manhattan to help NBC launch a cable station to compete with CNN. Today, it's known as CNBC. She produced a national talk show, which was nominated as best new talk show in the cable category.
As a producer, she developed show ideas, gathered research, wrote questions, produced, booked and pre-interviewed celebrities and politicians for a politically oriented half-hour talk show.
NBC also sponsored Maria for graduate work at Columbia University, which she attended at night while continuing to work at NBC.
At twenty-nine years old, Maria was co-anchoring several health series which aired nationally on CNBC.
At college, Maria was a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society. She was also chosen along with a select few pre-law students to become a member of the Intercollegiate Model City Council. Debates were held directly across the street from Pace University at City Hall. Maria represented New York City on the city council. Actual city council members participated.
She then went on to produce a pilot and series and work as a reporter for the reality program, "Top Cops", the first program ever developed in the reality genre. The program was executive produced by Sonny Grosso of Grosso-Jacobson Entertainment. She says, "Sonny made me a better writer. He taught me to write the way I speak, and save the big words for the dictionary. He's a talented, down-to-earth, wonderful individual."
She later joined Roger Ailes at Ailes Communications as Director of Research and then again to help produce the pilot and series for "The Rush Limbaugh Show". Ailes is someone Maria respects and admires within the industry. She says, "Roger is a person of tremendous loyalty and integrity. He has great instincts, a culmination of all his experience. You can count on Roger's word. He's a master communicator who can easily alternate between being tough or nice based on the situation. He's a good person who has earned his stripes. A true powerhouse." She learned a lot from having worked with him. She recalls Roger saying no one should ever ask anyone to do a job that they hadn't done themselves because then when they tell you they can't -- you know they can.
While the Rush Limbaugh Show was on hiatus, Maria was vacationing in Florida when she decided to take a break from the cold winters in New York.
While there, she immediately formed an alliance with a local production company where she developed, wrote, produced and distributed 7 half-hour medical programs. Health was Maria's original beat during college where she wrote and reported for campus newspapers. The programs aired on CNBC, Lifetime and A&E.
Maria was signed by Geller Media Management, who represents Al Roker and Ann Curry of the Today Show as well as other top broadcasting professionals. During a seminar in NYC, Alfred Geller popped in a videotape and said he could tell who would make it immediately. It was a tape of Maria anchoring to which he stated, "The camera loves Maria. She belongs in the #1 market. She has the presence of a six foot person on-camera".
The room had a dozen clients who Maria grew up watching on television. She recalls her face turning beat red as she was the lesser known in the group and had no idea why her tape was selected.
Geller was onto something because Maria was later selected out of thousands of applicants in the nation for the health correspondent position on a network morning news program in New York City, the #1 market. It came down to Maria and one other person. The other person got the position because they were a physician, and she was told she had Dr. Art Ulene to thank for that.
She has been mentored by the best in the industry and continues to work with top professionals. Her on-camera demo tape was produced by Chuck Scarborough at WNBC, who encouraged Maria to work on-camera. He also produced one for Brian Williams, now anchor of NBC Nightly News.
Maria went on to co-anchor, "Healthcare Consumers" airing on CNBC for 3 years before joining the NBC station in Miami as their medical producer and special projects producer. Maria formed her own production company specializing in health called NewsMD, and has written and produced documentaries for the Discovery Health Channel as well as medical packages for JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association and NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and all the cable networks -- traveling extensively as a field producer and reporter. Her health program credits include Healthy Women, The Cutting Edge Medical Report, 21st Century Medicine, Healthy Living, Healthcare Consumers and Healthcare Practioners, Lifestyles & Longevity and Healthy Living.
Maria has been specializing in health since 1993 and has covered a multitude of topics in health from A to Z. She has interviewed a Who's Who in the medical community and produced over 1,000 health stories for a nationwide audience. She consults with some of the leading medical institutions in the world, and helped the Cleveland Clinic Foundation launch the Cleveland Clinic News Service (CCNS). She is a member of the National Association of Medical Communicators (NAMC) and is currently developing several programs and expanding her business.
Maria was born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in New York. She resided in Manhattan immediately following college, spending weekends at her home on a lake in the Berkshires enjoying hobbies such as bike riding, running, waterskiing, fly-fishing, boating, sailing, swimming, hiking, cross country and downhill skiing, snowmobiling, reading, writing, painting, cooking and frequenting theatre, plays, galleries, Tanglewood and museums.
Maria was present in the Berkshires when John Williams composed the theme music for NBC Nightly News there.
She has also resided in Columbus, Ohio, Apex, North Carolina and Plainfield, New Jersey. She comes from a large close-knit, Italian family. She has 2 siblings. One sister residing in New York, and one brother residing in San Diego. She currently divides her time between NYC, Miami and CA.
Maria is active within the health community in terms of helping to raise awareness and funds for those in need. She has helped raise over 20 million dollars for health organizations and causes.
She says that as long as she is able to utilize her research, writing, interviewing and production skills to educate, inform or inspire people about their health, she's a happy person.
She continues to do just that. She also types faster than a speeding bullet, but has yet to work as a secretary.
She is in Who's Who of American Women, 22nd edition. [less]
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