Mariana Atencio is a Peabody award-winning news personality, author and motivational speaker, as well as the co-founder of GoLike, a multimedia production company.

She worked as a news anchor and national correspondent on television for a decade in both English and Spanish.

Mariana’s Tedx Talk “What Makes You Special?” has been viewed almost 14 million times and translated into 13 languages.

Her first book “Perfectly You: Embracing the Power of Being Real” was an Amazon Best Seller, selected by Audible Editor’s Picks and Apple as a “Must Listen.”

As one of the most prominent Latinas in the country, Mariana’s story is featured in the award-winning HBO series “Habla” about the Latinos defining the next decade in America. She is a 2020 Henry Crown Fellow, partnered with the American Latino Museum and serves on the Leadership Council of Voto Latino.

Mariana came to the United States after losing the hope of becoming a journalist in her home country of Venezuela. Suddenly, as an immigrant and the new girl on television, she was faced with a choice: be what everybody else expected or find her own voice and purpose. She realized that re-defining herself beyond labels was the only way forward.

Her work has been honored with a Peabody, a Gracie and an IRE. She also won Columbia University Journalism School’s First Decade Award and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Presidential Award.

She has keynoted at the United Nation’s Girl Up Summit, the LinkedIn Annual Conference alongside speakers like Michelle Obama, Spotify’s Unity Summit and other high-profile events.

Mariana has partnered with brands and institutions such as The U.S. Census Bureau, Wells Fargo, Airbnb, UBS and Microsoft to create content that is relatable, inspiring, informative and resonates across languages and communities.

Mariana’s Tedx Talk “What Makes You Special?” is one of the top 10 most viewed on YouTube, translated into 11 languages. Her passion as a speaker started when she was valedictorian in high school in Venezuela. Over time, she developed an interactive and relatable approach, giving the audience tools to get motivated and discover things about themselves through her storytelling and innovative exercises.

She has keynoted at the United Nation’s Girl Up Summit; the American Library Association; the LinkedIn Annual Conference alongside speakers like Michelle Obama; Spotify; Microsoft and City Private Bank. Topics include authenticity, storytelling, reinventing yourself, networking, empowerment, immigration and diversity, among others.

Each speech and role as speaker, host or Master of Ceremonies is customized to the client needs and audience size.

Mariana came to the U.S. on a scholarship to study journalism at Columbia University. She got her first break anchoring and reporting at Univision and Fusion, where she started out at the Documentaries and Investigative Unit; then hosted a morning show and co-anchored the 2016 Democratic Debate. She made “the cross over’ from Spanish to English-speaking television as a national correspondent for NBC News, where her work was awarded the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Presidential Award, Columbia University’s First Decade Award, a Hillman Prize and a national Emmy nomination.

Named among the top young Latinas in American newsrooms and AdWeek’s ‘Young Influentials’, she has covered many of the most important stories of the last ten years, including the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump; the family separation crisis at the U.S. Southern Border; the student protests in Hong Kong; hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

When the Government shut down the most important television station in her home country in 2007, Mariana went out to protest as a student and found her calling: telling the stories those in power were trying to cover up. Storytelling is at the heart of all the content she creates, from original television productions to speeches, streaming, brand partnerships, books and social media.

Mariana specializes in storytelling that’s authentic, empathetic and immersive with a focus on the human experience. Given today’s changing media landscape, her content can be adapted and customized to multiple platforms and audiences, yet always remains fresh and positive. Her experience in traditional and new media drove her to launch ‘Go Like’, a multimedia production company connecting different generations, cultures and languages through immersive content.

Published by Harper Collins in both English and Spanish in 2019, Mariana’s first book “Perfectly You: Embracing the Power of Being Real” was an Amazon Best Seller for Latino Biographies, an Audible Editor’s Pick and an Apple Books “Must Listen.” It was picked up by Target and Walmart and selected for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference where Mariana keynoted.

Actress Eva Longoria and journalist Maria Elena Salinas called it a “must read” for women everywhere, while the book release was covered by Forbes; Refinery29; The Today Show; and People En Español. The “Perfectly You” book tour included 8 stops in Miami, New York, Dallas, Austin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Barcelona. Most recently, Mariana was invited by The New York Times to talk about the book’s impact.

Veteran TV producer Mirna Couto began mentoring Mariana when she was just starting out on television. Their partnership led to success and a common mission: bring people together through diverse storytelling and positivity. With that in mind, they co-founded “GoLike” in 2018. Its name comes from the viral hashtag #GoLikeMariana, which Mariana uses to motivate her online community.

“From day one, GoLike has been committed to bringing people together through stories,” – Mariana Atencio, co-founder of GoLike

The company produces original scripted and non-scripted television programming; speaker series; online courses; books and brand partnerships that showcase authenticity, the Latinx community and the value of living life to the fullest, highlighting how we are all connected in the pursuit of peace and happiness.

“The power of positive storytelling crosses cultures, geographies, and backgrounds to unite us all, despite our differences,” – Mirna Couto, co-founder of GoLike.

In 2020, GoLike announced high-level partnerships with the American Latino Museum and Voto Latino, to encourage Latinx representation, voter registration and participation.