Maria DeLorenzis Reyes: Empowering Organizations Through People

Time and technology have engineered irreplaceable transformations around us, pushing people to break boundaries like never before. This has led to the need for constant learning and development to stay ahead in the race of progress. A key part of well-run companies today, organized training plays a vital role in their continued success.

Corporate training provides learners with the knowledge and skills they need to perform their jobs at the highest level. Not only does it helps turn young talent into tomorrow’s leaders, but also it helps increase employee satisfaction and decrease employee turnover. But with so many institutions in the market today, claiming to provide the best business training solutions, finding the right partner may sometimes feel like a needle in a haystack. Not anymore!

Established in 2007 by CEO and Founder,?Maria DeLorenzis Reyes,?Training Innovations brings training solutions to companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500s. As a premier training organization, this company provides comprehensive training and educational resources to businesses all across America.

Maria shares,?“My organization’s mission is to educate and empower people to grow and develop skills, move beyond the status quo through innovation and real, honest talk. We help to elevate companies and their owners to move to the next level by applying these principles.”

Educate, Inspire, Move

Having worked for 20 years in the corporate industry, Maria witnessed firsthand some of the barriers in the mindset and tactics of leaders that lead to stagnant growth commonly occurring in organizations. This often ends up being frustrating for staff and leaders, because they can’t seem to identify these problems that counter growth and productivity.

“My goal is to enlighten leaders and management to embrace new ways of thinking and in turn, help to educate them and their staff to create the transformation that they were seeking but couldn’t seem to attain.?Threaded through all the programs offered through training innovations is this intention, to educate and inspire others to move towards that goal in a new direction,”?states Maria.

Maria has over 30 years of experience in training and development, product management, project management, and business process re-engineering. The combination of corporate and entrepreneurial experience, coupled with business education in varied industries is one of her most significant qualities. She specializes in bringing critical life skills and workforce training to employees of Training Innovations’ clients.

Focusing on efficiency and effectiveness, Maria brings her real-world corporate management experience to her training, providing participants with relatable examples. Today, she possesses the unique perspective of seeing things from both sides – inside multi-million and billion-dollar organizations as well as her own businesses that she successfully runs.

Transformation through Innovation

The services offered by Training Innovations are designed to work closely with the organizations to uplift their entire ecosystem, starting from the employees. Their services start by performing a need analysis for every company they work with. Thereafter, clients are given recommendations to address the needs and can choose from the range of training options available at Training Innovations or a tailor-made program is created for their distinct objectives.

Spearheaded by Maria and driven by a team of development experts, Training Innovation’s expertise spans many industries and includes the business skills needed in today’s competitive markets. All the trainers have the credentials necessary to deliver training that allows company staff to meet and exceed their objectives. Each year, the organization provides training programs and resources to thousands of individuals and organizations in New Jersey, New York, and all across the country.

A Straightforward Leader

As a young professional, Maria had no intentions of being an entrepreneurial leader. Looking back however, she realizes now that it was always in her DNA to become one. Even in college, Maria remembers being looked up to as a leader. She would often be running college projects, planning trips, and making all necessary decisions and taking action.

Having lived the corporate life for 20 years, eventually Maria became disenchanted working for others and decided that she wanted to run her own company. Today, she is revered for pushing boundaries, challenging the status quo, and helping open minds by trying innovative approaches that others may not see as options.

As a leader, Maria believes in being authentic and vulnerable – showing up in a way that allows people to be themselves, and showing care and concern for her team. She is also committed to creating a safe and transparent work environment for her employees where they can be themselves, make mistakes, and get the support to learn and do better.

Maria invests a significant amount of time to learn and challenge herself to evolve and grow.?“Being a leader requires the commitment to be an infinite learner and that is a principle that I live by. I read, go to conferences and events and invest in my own training, not just to gain skills but to support my own personal development that allows me to be a better human and in turn a better leader,”?she states.

Maria holds a BA in Advertising and Marketing and has completed numerous courses in management, technology, and Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification training. She has is a featured speaker at annual industry seminars and corporate events. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She also keeps herself creatively engaged in activities that range from things like pottery, art, crafting, and home projects to travel and new cultural adventures.

Overcoming Challenges

As a woman, it can sometimes be difficult to garner the respect of being a leader, particularly in comparison to a male business leader. Maria herself has felt the impact of gender-based bias many times over her career.?“If you are a strong leader, as a woman you run the risk of being seen in a negative light when if you were a man with the same behavior, you would be seen as competent and effective,”?mentions she. Furthermore, as a woman leader balancing work and family, Maria has observed that it is common to be seen as less committed, despite putting as much, if not more effort and energy into their work.

Although this mindset unfortunately still exists in modern society, Maria says,?“I was fortunate to prove myself but many times the cost was higher in time and energy to do that.?I think the good news is that currently things are changing and outdated unequal ideals around women are being challenged and there’s hope for that evolving.”?Changing this outdated outlook is one of the reasons that fuel her fire for empowering and inspiring other women leaders and young professionals.

To other women, Maria has committed to helping them grow and prosper as entrepreneurs. She is passionate about driving model female businesses and regularly makes time to participate in women’s entrepreneurship programs. She also has a strong online presence where she shares her experience and knowledge with aspiring and budding entrepreneurs and motivates them?“to not only dream it, but to achieve it.”

Into the Future

After spending a lifetime understanding and empowering people, Maria is prepared to spread her wealth of knowledge to a larger audience to impact more people in a positive way. Last year she founded MDR brands, a company that serves as an umbrella organization for her multiple business outlets.

In August 2022, she launched her podcast?– Finding the Upside, where she highlights topics that focus on business and life, all with a mission to see challenges as opportunities. She also has her first book coming out at the end of this year, which is a collaboration project with other women leaders that highlight their stories of the impact of labels and how they overcame their hurdles.

Maria continues to stay involved in speaking engagements and digital training sessions with corporations, individuals, business owners, and leaders. To women paving their own paths to leadership, Maria’s advice is,?“Be true to who you are and unafraid to be vulnerable. People connect with those that have the courage to be vulnerable and demonstrate that they are just like the people they lead – that leaders are people too.”

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