Mariateresa Cascino is from Matera and is 46 years old. She holds a degree with honours in Communication Sciences, with a specialization in marketing. She is a journalist, publicist and consultant in marketing and communication for private and public organizations. She gained professional experience in Italy and in the USA (Boston and New York) working in institutional and corporate communications and  on expansion and internationalization projects in the American market. She has created marketing plans, carried out feasibility studies and managed public relations for investors interested in both Northern America and Italy.  She is a Europhile, and has  worked for the Department for Public Administration, dealing with information about the structural funds of Objective 1 Regions. She has also developed integrated communication and advertising campaigns to support institutional communications about the ERDF structural funds of the Basilicata Region.
In the field of tourism, she worked for the Agency of Territorial Promotion of Basilicata and she oversaw the editing of a guidebook on film tourism in Basilicata. She has also worked for travel agencies, and film agencies, and was involved in audio-visual marketing projects aimed at promoting Italian destinations and brands.
Mariateresa is co-founder and president of the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, the only literary festival in Europe focused on the Writer’s Conference aims of discovering new talent and promoting women’s fiction.  In the field of culture,  she has been deeply involved both in the development of Visioni Urbane for the implementation of centres of creativity in Basilicata and in the exciting challenge of the candidacy of Matera 2019. Since May 2018, she has been collaborating on marketing, communication and fundraising activities with the General Director of the Matera-Basilicata 2019 Foundation.