Latinovations is a division of the Dewey Square Group (DSG), which was founded in 1993 and has since become one of the nation’s leading public affairs firms.  DSG has been at the heart of many of the nation’s high-profile public policy debates and created Latinovations in recognition of the growing importance of the Hispanic market and the impact of the Latino community on public policy debates.

Based in Washington, D.C., Latinovations has national, state and local relations specializing in strategic public affairs, coalition building, government relations, strategic marketing campaigns, media relations and grassroots communications services for the community and from the community. For more information please visit the Dewey Square Group.

Meet the Latinovations Team

Maria Cardona

Maria Cardona has more than two decades of experience in the community affairs, government, politics, and public relations arenas. Recognized among the most influential Latinos in the country, and as one of the most sought after communications and media strategists, Maria is a Principal at the Dewey Square Group, the founder of Latinovations, and a CNN/CNN en Español Political Contributor. As the head of DSG’s Public Affairs Practice, she combines public policy, communications, coalition building, constituency outreach, government relations, traditional and new media at this premier national public affairs firm.

Prior to signing on exclusively with CNN, Maria was a frequent political commentator on MSNBC, Fox, Univision and Telemundo, appearing as a public policy expert and providing political analysis on all manner of national issues. During the 2008 Democratic primary election, Maria was senior adviser and spokesperson to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and served on the campaign’s Hispanic outreach team. During the 2008 general election, Maria was a key surrogate for the Obama for America campaign, a role she revisited in the 2012 presidential election.

Previously, Maria was a senior vice president for the New Democrat Network, and before that, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee. During the Clinton administration, Maria served as chief spokesperson at the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the U.S. Department of Justice after serving as Press Secretary for the Department of Commerce.

For most of her career, Maria has been an advocate for some of the biggest issues affecting the Latino community. Working hand-in-hand with some of the biggest Latino groups, she has been at the forefront advocating for issues like comprehensive immigration reform, voting rights protection, access to affordable healthcare, protecting the environment, closing the digital divide, equal pay for equal work, and closing the wage gap.

She is a native of Colombia and lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two children.

 Alma Molina

Alma Molina is a Principal at Dewey Square Group’s Public Affairs and Latinovations Practice. Former president of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association and a political digital media strategist specializing in multicultural messaging, Alma has handled some of the biggest media clients for DSG’s Public Affairs practice, offering cutting edge and innovative support, advice and tactic implementation that has allowed DSG’s clients to achieve great success.

A graduate of Columbia University with over 15 years of international, federal, and local policy and communications experience, Alma brings with her a robust background in personal and corporate brand management, diversity marketing, and local and national campaign messaging and strategy. Alma additionally has demonstrated expertise in thought leadership development, media relations, intergovernmental affairs, and digital media coalition building.

Karen Castillo 

Karen Castillo is an Associate at the Dewey Square Group where she leads media relations and bilingual client relations for the Public Affairs and Latinovations team. Prior to joining the team, she began her career at NTN24, a Colombian international news station, where she covered the international relations and the Venezuelan crisis, congressional hearings at the OEA and U.S. immigration hearings. She also led the production of a daily newscast, edited video content, published articles and managed content for social platforms. Karen also serves as point person for the Latinovations practice area DSG.

She graduated from the University of Maryland College Park where she studied Broadcast Journalism and Latino Studies.