Maria Rodale is an explorer in search of the mysteries of the universe. She is the author of Love Nature Magic, Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden, Organic Manifesto and Scratch and is the children’s book author, Mrs. Peanuckle.
She serves on the board of the Rodale Institute and is also a former board co-chair. Throughout her life, she has advocated for the potential of organic regenerative farming the heal the damage wrought by pesticides and industrial agricultural practices and their toxic impacts on human and planetary health, including reversing climate change. She was featured in the documentary Kiss The Ground.
She is also the recovering CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc, publisher of books such as Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, Howard Schultz’s Onward, and classics like The South Beach Diet. Maria also published the magazines Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Organic Gardening, among others.
From 2003 to 2011 she was on the board of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project. From 2014 to 2017 she served on the Pennsylvania Federal Reserve Advisory council. She also served on the board of the Lehigh Valley Health Network.
She has received awards for her lifetime of service and activism, including the National Audubon Rachel Carson Award in 2004, United Nations Population Fund’s Award for the Health and Dignity of Woman Everywhere in 2007, and The Auburn University International Quality of Life Award in 2014. And in 2017 she received an honorary Doctorate Degree from Delaware Valley University.
In 1985 she graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA with a dual major in Communications and Art.
Maria is a mother, grandmother, artist, and crazy gardener who lives in Pennsylvania, right near where she was born.