Designer

Maria e Cortes  - Personal Bio 

Creative, Fashion Designer, People Person, Nature lover ( 1972 - )

Known for her spontaneous and outgoing personality.  She is always willing to help others no matter what.  She knows that “Paying forward”,  is a fact!

Early Life

Maria Cortes was born on December 24, 1972, in a small town called Baraya, Huila in Colombia. She is a sixth of seven children, four sisters, and two brothers. Maria grew up surrounded by family, animals and fresh food as the family own 2 farms. Riding horses, spending time with her dad at the farms, were her favorite things to do as a child and teenager. As she always says “I am who I am because of my parents”.

Maria was known by her family and friends as the Creative one - she will make order out of chaos. She was there at family events to get everyone ready.  Fashion was her strong suit! She always knows what looks best for you; outfits, hairstyles, and makeup... If she wanted to try something new or trendy, her sisters were happy to let her, because they knew, she knew best.

Career Beginnings

In 1989 Maria moved to Bogota, Colombia where she went to University of Jorge Tadeo Lozano and became a Food Engineer in 1996. She knew the world had more for her to explore when she decided to move to New York City in 1998.   Moving to the United States was her dream, but she desperately needed to learn English in order to enjoy and make a life here. After one year, Maria moved to Salt Lake City, UT.  After learning English, Maria studied Human Resources at Cornell University and worked as Human Resources Representative for manufacturing companies for 13 years, following her other passion for helping people; at the same time, she became a model, a mother, a wife, a recruiter, a writer, a designer, and outdoor lover and an entrepreneur, I think she’s been pretty busy!

Maria has many awesome and fun stories to tell, I keep telling her, she needs to write them down because I believe you will enjoy them too. We will get her to share some of them in future blog post...

In 2015, Maria opened her own recruiting firm called New Trail Recruiting. Starting her own business allowed her to continue helping people find their next career and sparked her entrepreneurial spirit.  During the fall of 2016, Maria had a stroke of brilliance; and Strappy Couture was born!  Maria wants to start a world revolution, just like Coco Chanel did with the creation of her Little Black Dress.

Personal Life

Maria lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her best friend and husband, and their amazing son.  She stays close to her family in Colombia.