Maria A. Karamitsos presents From the Mommy Files…

Maria A. Karamitsos is an “accidental writer” based in Chicago. She’d always loved to write, but never thought she could make a career of it. After receiving her undergraduate degree in marketing and an MBA with concentration in marketing, Maria went on to work in marketing for nearly 15 years – at in-house marketing departments, marketing agencies and ultimately as an independent consultant. She did a considerable amount of writing in the course of her marketing work, such as composing copy for collateral material, product guides, press releases, advertising, proposals, articles for trade publications, case studies and countless websites.

Her active involvement in Chicago’s Greek community led to the opportunity to contribute an article to GreekCircle magazine, a quarterly publication, in 2002. Maria still writes for this publication, and has written about Greece’s growing beer industry, her love of Greek dance, traditions, food and more.

Years later, after managing marketing and promotions for several area Greek organizations, through her relationships with the staff at The Greek Star, a new writing assignment came about — a bi-weekly column, called “Sto Kentro,” about things to do in Greek Chicago. Established in 1904, The Greek Star is the nation’s oldest continuously published Greek newspaper. She began contributing the column in the summer of 2005, and by January 2006, became Associate Editor. Maria is also the lead writer for the publication. Articles concentrate on all things Greek: people, businesses, organizations, events, history, culture, traditions, food, entertainment, the arts and more.  Highlights include a special two-part report on the emerging Greek wine industry, a look at growing Orthodoxy in Central America, plus interviews with prominent Greeks on the local, national and international scene, such as renowned tenor Mario Frangoulis, Greek pop singer Elli Kokkinou, actress Olympia Dukakis, comedian Costaki Economopoulos, singer Ariana Savalas and more. Maria also reported extensively on the devastating fires in the Peloponnese in Greece in 2007, which affected her own family.

In 2005, under her  maiden name Maria A. Fotinopoulos, she served as Food Editor of the book, “Greektown Chicago: Its History, Its Recipes” by Alexa Ganakos. The beautiful book featured a photographic history of Chicago’s Greek community and family recipes shared by people in the community. It included profiles of four popular Greektown restaurants, which also shared recipes for some of their most popular dishes. The book concluded with a look at the Greek community today. As a marketing consultant, Maria led the market launch of this book.

Maria has contributed to The National Herald, a Greek newspaper based in New York, and the online publication, GreekReporter.

Maria is passionate about all things Greek. This led to her editorial entitled “Bring the Marbles Home - Once and for All,” about the Parthenon Marbles, which was published on the ezine Harlots Sauce Radio, in August 2009. Another contribution to Harlots Sauce examined what not to say to someone who just suffered a miscarriage.

Maria is currently penning a book about her experience with molar pregnancy. There’s more to come from this fiery Greek! This blog is a bit of a departure from her previous work. Maria began composing these tongue-in-cheek essays on Mommyhood, in effort to make light of the “craziness” that ensued following the birth of her second child.

Maria is a stay-at-home mom who writes in her spare time – that means whenever she can grab a minute or when the kids are asleep. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters.