Maria Saporta

Maria Saporta is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. Maria is the co-founder of Atlanta Way 2.0, an initiative aimed at strengthening Atlanta’s civic fabric by inspiring everyone to build close connections that will provide civic literacy on key local issues with the hope of encouraging greater civic engagement. Maria also founded SaportaReport in 2009, an Atlanta-focused news outlet that provides a forum for local journalists, guest columnists, local features, such as Stories of Atlanta, as well as a broad variety of community Thought Leaders.

From September 2008 to March 2020, Maria wrote a weekly column and news stories for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Before that, she spent 27 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. Maria also is a past president of the Atlanta Press Club, and she continues to serve in a board emeritus role after 30 years of board service. She also co-chairs the Atlanta Press Club’s "Loudermilk-Young Debate Series" Committee. Maria serves as vice president of the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta, a French cultural organization and school that was founded by her mother in 1963. In other civic roles, Maria serves on the Board of Visitors for Berry College in Rome; she serves on the Advisory Council of the Islamic Speakers Bureau; and she serves on the board of the Ovarian Cancer Institute. In January 2019, Maria was inducted into Georgia Trend’s Hall of Fame. She also was inducted into the Georgia State University Business Hall of Fame in 2012. She also received the Atlanta Business League 2013 CEO Award for Vision of Excellence. Maria was inducted in the 2002 YWCA Academy of Women Achievers. Maria also was given the inaugural “Atlanta Hero” award by the Rotary Club of Atlanta on July 9, 2018. Maria received her Masters’ degree in urban studies from Georgia State and her Bachelors’ degree in journalism from Boston University. Maria was born in Atlanta to European parents. She has two adult children, who both work in the movie and television industry in Georgia.