Maria Ward is a writer and editor living in New York. Her specialties include brand voice, storytelling, email marketing, content strategy, and branded partnerships. Throughout her 10-plus years as a contributor for Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, the CFDA, and more she has interviewed countless celebrities and designers, like Vera Wang, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and Zac Posen.

Ward grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an undergrad, Ward spent her summers interning at Seventeen, Glamour, and Vogue, assisting the likes of Glamour Executive Fashion Editor-at-Large Suze Yalof Schwartz and the late Vogue Editor-at-Large André Leon Talley.

Midway through her Vogue summer internship, she was hired as a freelance researcher, where she assisted with the launch of the Vogue Archive by identifying hundreds of models whose names had been omitted from magazine credits for decades. Ward also contributed to Voguepedia, fashion’s first digital encyclopedia, which chronicled designers, photographers, models, brands, trends, and more.

To create Christian Dior’s Voguepedia—from the designer’s first fashion show in 1947 to today—Ward conducted extensive research and spent countless hours digging through the Condé Nast, Fairchild, and New York Times archives. Sourcing newspaper reviews for every Dior fashion show, she selected the most captivating quotes that captured the essence, meaning, and mood of each Dior collection. 

Upon graduation, Ward joined Vogue.com as an Editorial Producer before being promoted to Email Marketing Manager one month later. She wrote and led the robust Vogue (and later, Vogue Runway) newsletter program, increasing monthly website traffic by 10x. Ward was promoted to Vogue Fashion News Writer and Parties Editor in 2016. As a top traffic-driving author at Vogue.com, she wrote between 3 and 5 articles daily, plus a weekly column, “5 Things You Didn’t Know About,” covering pop culture. Her viral fashion test-wear features drew recognition across social media and beyond.

Maria Ward’s first test-wear story, where she wore latex on a date in 2017, went viral several times over, and was on Vogue.com’s Top 10 Most-Viewed Articles on of the Year.

After five years at Vogue.com, Ward expanded upon her experience by writing for multiple outlets. She immediately became a regular contributor to the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). For three years, she covered fashion, beauty, parties, and the CFDA Fashion Awards, and also served as the chief critic, reviewing collections at Women’s, Men’s, and Bridal Fashion Week.

In 2018, Ward strategically transitioned into retail, joining Macy’s as a Brand Authority Copywriter and Copy Editor— the only Macy’s copywriter to ever assume a copy editor role simultaneously. As the head of copy on all fashion campaigns, she created key narratives for 360 integrated campaigns that helped drive the marketing strategy each season, using “story-selling” to capture the new style mood.

In March 2020, Ward joined the luxury cashmere label White + Warren as the first-ever Editorial Manager, overseeing content and strategy across all marketing channels. During the pandemic, a challenging time for the retail world, she spearheaded the launch of Closer Knit—a content series featuring exclusive interviews, as well as ways for customers to connect while social distancing. The content helped contribute to a 21% YoY boost in traffic and a 33% increase in Instagram engagement.

In September 2021, Ward became the Director of Content and Strategy at Over The Moon, an e-commerce website, wedding registry, and content destination. Under her leadership, she developed and refined the brand voice and tone across all touchpoints. In addition to managing the marketing team with five direct reports, Ward edited all copy for the website, social media, marketing emails, and more. She also spearheaded all branded content, ideating and executing campaigns for best-in-class brands, including Carolina Herrera, Monique Lhuillier, Jessica McCormack, 1stDibs, Bumble, Loeffler Randall, Spanx, and more. Single-handedly ideating, developing, and landing every client pitch, Ward led over a dozen branded content campaigns that generated $300K in revenue in 2 years.

Fast-forward to today, Maria Ward is now the Senior Style and Beauty Editor at UsWeekly.com, where she continues to bring her topical authority, expertise, and leadership to all things fashion and beauty.