Francesca Maxime

Francesca Marguerite Maximé is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, poet, and seasoned digital and broadcast journalist. She graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with a degree in English Literature. She is has published two full volumes of poetry, “Rooted: a verse memoir” and “Re-Routed: verse for the human animal.” She has been nominated for three Pushcart prizes in poetry and has received three Honorable Mentions in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. She began her journalism career in her hometown of Boston as an intern/entertainment producer for WCVB, and soon got a Weekend Anchor job at WIVT in Binghamton, NY. Francesca then worked as a Reporter and Anchor in various northeast cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Hartford, and Syracuse. She has worked as a news anchor and reporter/correspondent in New York City for PBS NewsHour, Arise TV, Ebru TV, Bloomberg, WPIX, NY1, and NET TV. She has reported live, first-hand, on such national stories as the Paris Attacks, the capture of Osama bin Ladin, 9/11, the Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal, the Beltway Sniper Shootings, the August 2003 blackout, the Martha Moxley/Skakel murder case, the Dartmouth Professor slayings, and the disappearance of Molly Bish. She has interviewed President George H.W. Bush, Senators John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Charles Schumer, Joe Lieberman, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Vice President Dan Quayle, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia Mayor John Street, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Francesca also worked as an Entertainment Reporter for Film Slate Magazine and for Comcast's "Backstage," and has interviewed countless celebrities including Colin Farrell, Amanda Seyfried, Ellen Barkin, Debra Messing, Damon Wayans, Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Steve Martin, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Huey Lewis and Robert Duvall. From 2007-2009 Francesca was the Primary Nighttime Anchor (and Reporter) at WEAR-TV ABC3, the #1 station in Pensacola, Florida. While in Pensacola, Francesca spent as much time working out in the community, as inside the newsroom. In 2006, Francesca joined the Pensacola Young Professionals and founded the Quality of Life Environmental Subcommittee to effort curbside recycling in Escambia County, which was passed in April of 2008. She also served as a working board member of the Pensacola Opera, Film Festival, and National Association on Drug and Alcohol Dependence. In 2007, Francesca was awarded the "Beacon Award" in the Media Category, given out by the "Circuit One Community Alliance," for her work on behalf of foster children. As a Haitian-Dominican Italian-American, Francesca is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the National Association of Black Journalists, and also volunteers her mentoring and media consulting services to the Asian American Journalists Association. She is proficient in Spanish, French, and Italian, and spent a summer while at Harvard working for "Let's Go: Italy," researching and writing content for the budget travel guide. She loves keeping up to date with all her friends, and has an active Facebook and Twitter page. In her spare time, she loves to play tennis competitively on several USTA teams, write and perform poetry and take poetry classes, bake cookies, and hang out with her kitties, Maggie and Penny.