Maria Finn can fillet an anchovy, dance a tango, and, with the help of her truffle hound, Flora Jayne, unearth a truffle in the wilds. She was an ocean faring cat lady, working on fishing boats in Alaska and sailing yawls out of San Francisco, but she’s now docked on a houseboat in Sausalito where she creates immersive food, art, science, and storytelling experiences through the Institute of Ecosystem Based Living. She founded Flora & Fungi Adventures where she and her team of foragers host West Coast, wild food-centric adventures.

Maria has authored many stories, essays, and books. She was a contributor to Sunset magazine and FERN (the Food and Environmental Reporting Network). Her latest is a cookbook, Forage. Gather. Feast. was published in 2024 by Sasquatch. She has told stories for the Moth Mainstage at the Museo del Barrio in New York City and the Castro Theater in San Francisco among many other places.

She was a fellow in the first creative cohort in the Design Science Studio and Living Systems Collaboratory as part of the Buckminster Fuller Society. She was an artist-in-residence at Autodesk, Pier 9 maker space, and she was chef-in-residence for Stochastic Labs, a residency for artists, scientists, and tech innovators in Berkeley.