Perez-Brown is an entrepreneur in the entertainment industry. She is the president of Dorado Entertainment, Inc., a production company she founded to create quality entertainment for both adults and children. As executive producer and creator, she launched the popular pre-school series Gullah Gullah Island, which was named one of the top 10 television shows for children by TV Guide in 1996. Under Perez-Brown's guidance, Gullah Gullah Island, which launched in fall 1994, became a top-rated Nick Jr. series and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. The series also garnered three Parent's Choice Golden Awards, a National Association of Minorities in Cable Award and four NAACP Image Award nominations.

Perez-Brown overcame several obstacles before becoming a creative force in television. She was born in Dorado, Puerto Rico. Her mother was married by fourteen and a single parent, mother of four by the time she was 20. When Perez-Brown was accepted at Yale, her mother would have preferred for her to attend school in Connecticut with her sister, but Perez-Brown had other ideas for her future. After securing a B.A. from Yale University and a law degree from New York University, she began her career in the tax department of a large Manhattan law firm. However, her love of entertainment soon took hold and she began working on entertainment contracts in her spare time. Eventually, she made the jump to independently producing television programs on a full-time basis. One of her initial projects was Accidentally on Purpose, a pilot for Nickelodeon with Joie and Cinque Lee, followed by the well-received short film El Deseo.

Maria also served as executive in charge of production for the Nickelodeon series The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo and the network's Peabody Award-winning campaign, The Big Help, as well as producer of six episodes of the Gullah Gullah Island spin-off, Binyah Binyah.

Her personal honors include an Annual Achievement in Television Award presented by the National Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, the New York University Award for Outstanding and Dedicated Service to the Latino Community and an Emmy nomination for producing Gullah Gullah Island.

Off the air, Perez-Brown has produced four Gullah, Gullah Island home videos for Sony Wonder and several CDs. She also collaborated on a series of children's books based on the series, which were published by Simon & Schuster.

In addition to Taina, Perez-Brown is currently in development on CyberChicas, a live-action/animated television series that follows the adventures of four pre-teen girls who are also superheroes. This series will launch on the internet 2001.

Perez-Brown currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, writer/producer Keith Brown.

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