“Count to one hundred.”

Those were the words spoken to Mariana Atencio as she knelt on a mountain trail in her hometown of Caracas, Venezuela, a gun pressed to her forehead. In that instant, she learned a lesson that would shape everything that came next: when the world turns chaotic and certainty disappears, trust becomes the currency that determines what happens next. In a crisis, you survive by finding the one clear internal signal you can rely on.

That moment became the catalyst for a 15-year career reporting from environments where the stakes are real and outcomes change lives. Mariana went on to become a news anchor for Univision and a national correspondent for NBC News, also filing for ABC. From Category 5 hurricanes to international conflict zones, she witnessed the same pattern: high-performing teams do not break down because they lack technology. They break down when trust erodes, communication gets cloudy, and alignment fractures.

To understand what builds trust when uncertainty is the baseline, Mariana has interviewed world-class leaders and elite performers, from Pope Francis and the King of Spain to icons like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, translating their lessons into practical, leadership-ready frameworks. Today, she brings those tools to organizations and leadership teams, helping them close the Trust Gap so decisions move faster, collaboration strengthens, and execution becomes more consistent especially during periods of change.

Mariana’s work first reached a global audience when her TEDx talk on trust and authenticity, “What makes YOU special?”, went viral. Viewed by over 25 million people, it established her as a global authority on the power of trust as a performance multiplier. She expanded that message in her bestselling book Perfectly You: Embracing the Power of Being Real, showing why “being real” is not a soft skill but a competitive advantage in a world saturated with noise and AI-generated content.

Mariana is also a sought-after host and moderator for high-profile gatherings, known for guiding leaders into sharp, candid conversations that deliver real insight. She is hired year after year for global events and serves as the host of a yearly 8-hour televised program for Microsoft, acting as a strategic editorial partner to draw out clear, high-value takeaways from C-suite executives.

Originally from Venezuela, Mariana came to the United States on a scholarship to Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her reporting has been honored with a Peabody Award, a Gracie Award, and three national Emmy nominations. She is a frequent on-air analyst across major networks, a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and serves on the board of the future Smithsonian American Latino Museum in Washington, D.C.