Maria Lee is an award-winning creative leader who combines her passion for design, technology, and storytelling to solve both business and societal problems. Maria was most recently named “Creative Director of the Year 2021” by AdAge A-List, “Champion of Change” by Campaign Magazine US Female Frontier Awards, and “Rising Star of Madison Avenue” by Business Insider. Earlier in her career, she was recognized twice as “USA Young Lion” by Cannes Festival of Creativity.

Maria has trailblazed uncharted territories to put both the agency and brands in the center of culture. Her work has been recognized by Fast Company, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, WARC, and Ad Council to name a few. In her previous role at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, she helped launch their first-ever DE&I program, leading the AAPI Employee Resource Group. Currently, she is a creative director at Droga5 New York and continues to actively mentor diverse talent through 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Internship Program. She may be “vertically challenged”, but it hasn’t stopped her from using her passion to shatter gender, racial and cultural preconceptions.