2020: staying connected virtually

 Maria is the best-selling author of My Badass Book of Saints: Courageous Women Who Showed Me How to Live, and Super Girls and Halos: My Companions on the Quest for Truth, Justice, and Heroic Virtue. Her most recent book, Our Lady of Charity: How a Cuban Devotion to Mary Helped Me Grow in Faith and Love was inspired by her return to Cuba almost 50 years to the day of leaving as a political exile. She weaves her family’s story and her personal faith journey with the story of how a miraculous appearance of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew to be a nation-defining devotion of the Cuban people.   

Allison shares the beauty of the Catholic faith with honesty, laughter, and moments from ordinary life. She has appeared on Catholic television, radio, podcasts, webinars, blogs, and really anywhere letting her share her faith. Allison created the Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women, which includes her books, Seeking Peace and The Gift of Invitation. A Seeking Heart with Allison Gingras podcast is distributed via BreadboxMedia.com. Allison is a social media consultant for WINE: Women In the New Evangelization, Catholicmom.com, and the Fall River (MA) Diocese.

Melanie loves nothing better than bringing the stories of our beloved saints to life. Her most recent books are Radial Saints: 21 Women for the 21st Century and Brotherhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration. She writes for a number of Catholic publications, including Living Faith, and is the conference's current owner.