Maria Elena Rodriguez comes from a Latinx-Asian clan in San Francisco. 

She has developed TV series both solo with such veterans as writers Peter Lefcourt
(Beggars & Choosers, Desperate Housewives), Robin Swicord (Wakefield, Jane Austen Book Club) and director Rosemary Rodriguez (The Good Wife, Home Before Dark). She has also written on staff of such dramas as Ava DuVernay's Queen Sugar (OWN), the late David Mills; drug-war mini-series Kingpin (NBC) and Showtime's first Latin family series, Resurrection Blvd.

Maria Elena started her career as an animation production manager in the early years
of the Fox hit The Simpsons.  Before quitting to write full-time, she worked in animation/ CGI/VFX at Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon, Film Roman, Sony, Fox, ILM, Disney and Rhythm, Hues. At Mattel Entertainment, she was a Producer of the movies, TV specials and web series for their hit franchise Monster High.

In her spare time Maria  Elena volunteers with formerly incarcerated people, coaching them on civic engagement and culinary skills. She also rides and cares for rescued horses at various sanctuaries.

She has a B.A. in Comparative Lit from UC-Berkeley, an MFA in Film Production from UCLA, and speaks French, Spanish and Italian.

She also teaches workshops in the Writers Room at EICAR film school in Paris and creative writing at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles.