Maria Castro
Maria Castro is a visionary leader, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, serving as the Founder and CEO of Inspiration, #LovePurse. With a career spanning three to four decades in community investment, Maria has dedicated herself to creating programs that empower and uplift women. Five years ago, during the pandemic, she founded #LovePurse while still working at Comcast, where she had served for 20 years until December 2025. The initiative began when a partner shelter reached out for toiletries for women fleeing abusive situations during lockdown. Rather than simply providing plastic bags, Maria purchased purses and filled them with essential items, each accompanied by a personal note of inspiration. The response was overwhelming, and the program quickly expanded. Today, #LovePurse has gifted over 20,000 purses to women in 12 countries and 15 cities, reaching women facing domestic violence, homelessness, and human trafficking. Each purse is personalized, never shared or returned, and the notes are translated into multiple languages to reach women in Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, and beyond. A recognized voice in the Hispanic and Latinx communities, Maria has co-authored Today's Inspired Latinas Volume 5, Today's Inspired Leader Volume 2, and Hispanic Stars Rising - The New Face of Power Inaugural Edition. She has shared her insights as a keynote speaker, emcee, workshop facilitator, and panelist at major events, including Latina Talks New York Times and Global Latina Talks. Her dedication to community investment, corporate social responsibility, and philanthropy has earned her numerous awards, including the 2025 Latino Magazine Brava Award, the 2025 100 Women to KNOW in America recognition, and multiple honors from Negocios Now and Today's Inspired Latinas. Before founding #LovePurse, Maria built a distinguished career at Comcast as Regional External Affairs Manager, leading initiatives in youth leadership, volunteerism, digital literacy, and workforce development. She serves on advisory committees for the Women’s Business Development Center and as Chair of the Chicago Region for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Now, she is focused on expanding #LovePurse nationwide, applying for grants, and continuing to grow a volunteer-powered movement that has already transformed thousands of lives. Fluent in English and Spanish, Maria combines her business expertise, public speaking skills, and philanthropic vision to inspire and empower communities locally, nationally, and internationally.
For 20 years, Maria was part of the community investment team at Comcast where she helped to implement and manage programs that delivered social and business value to nonprofit organizations and communities. Comcast is a company known for achieving social impact through innovative employee engagement, solid community partnerships and CSR/DE&I initiatives that include foundation grant giving, volunteer opportunities and sponsorships of local community events. As the Regional External Affairs Manager, she helped identify corporate giving opportunities for Comcast’s core focus areas of youth leadership, volunteerism, digital literacy, and work force development. Having been born and raised in Chicago’s Pilsen community, it brought her back full circle and allowed her to bring much needed resources to that community as well as to other incredible nonprofits in the Greater Chicago Region. She is also the Founder/CEO of Inspiration of #LovePurse, a nonprofit that is “putting love on the shoulders of women in need, one #LovePurse at a time” and has collected and gifted over 20,000 purses since March 2021 (during pandemic). Donations have been distributed throughout Illinois, Texas, Puerto Rico, California, Michigan, Arizona, New York, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Missouri, Mexico, Canada, Ukraine, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Egypt, Barbados, Honduras, Poland and Guatemala. The idea for starting this mission was to help women in domestic violence, homeless & human trafficking shelters realize that they matter, they are respected, thought of, and loved. Maria believes that sharing your Tx3’s #TimeTalentsTreasures is a requirement and not an option in life.
Former Chairwoman for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Chicago Chapter, Telemundo Chicago’s Action Board, and the Women’s Business Development Center’s Advisory Council. She is a co-author of Today’s Inspired Latinas Volume V, Today’s Inspired Leader Volume II, Hispanic Stars Rising, A New Face of Power Inaugural Edition, Latinx Community Leader Volume I, and the author of Kindness (part of the Word Power Series Collection). Maria has served as a panelist, moderator, keynote speaker, and emcee for numerous events and as a speaker for Latina Talks (New York Times & Chicago). She has received numerous award acknowledgements; Negocios Now 2019 Who’s Who Hispanic Chicago, 2019 Aurora Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’ Hispanic Catalyst Champion, YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, People with Disabilities Champion Award from Seguin Services, Corporate Visionary award from El Valor, 2020 Hispanic Style Latina of Influence, 2020 Today’s Inspired Latina’s Woman of the Year Award, National Diversity Council’s 2021 Top Latino Leader, 2021 Chicago Latina Expo Advocacy Leader Award, International Women’s Day 2022 Honoree, Negocios Now 2022 Who’s Who in Hispanic Business, Wintrust 2022 Latinx Community Award, 2023 Crain’s Chicago Business Notable Leader in DE&I, Publicity Club of Chicago Golden Trumpet Award recipient, Class of 2025, 100 Women to Know in America, and the 2009 proclamation of Maria Castro day in the City of Aurora (second largest city in Illinois).
• Business Administration
• 100 Influential Women in the Country
• 50 Powerful Women to Know in Chicago
• 100 Women to KNOW in America 2025 Recipient
• Hispanic Scholarship Fund
• Women's Business Development Center
• A Silver Lining Foundation
• Chicago Celebrities Dance Competition for Cancer Research
What do you attribute your success to?
I honestly think that people understand the power of women helping women. Most of our volunteers, our angels, are women, though I do have at least 10% who are men with daughters and wives who believe in helping these women when they are at their lowest point. We've been blessed because people really believe in this mission - it's simple, and yet it's very profound. I also have a great media person who gets me a lot of airtime and stories in magazines and newspapers, and that visibility has been crucial. Everything that we do, everybody that puts time in to help us, they're all volunteers. None of us get paid to do this. But we have been blessed a million times over because people seem to give more and help us spread the word, even though we don't have a budget for that kind of stuff. It's really a team effort - even my husband, who's very shy and reserved, goes with me everywhere. Everybody calls him Mr. Love Purse because he helps get the purses and toiletries, and if I'm going to New York, he's coming to New York and helping me pack everything in.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Maria’s development has been influenced by community leaders in philanthropy, women’s advocacy, and media who modeled the power of collective action. She also draws inspiration from family traditions of service and volunteering, which shaped her lifelong commitment to giving back.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think at the end of the day, when people think that they can't make a difference because they don't have money, you know, philanthropically, people always think of the word philanthropy as money, right? One of the things that I tell, especially students, young students, is that we all have T times 3s, and that's time, talents, and treasures. Those three things you can give away every single day. Simple things, like in the summer I put a cooler outside of my front door with ice-cold water so that when my mailman comes by, or my UPS guy, or my Amazon guy can grab a nice, really cold bottle of water, and it doesn't cost me much, $6 for a case. I tell these young students especially, y'all have them. You have time, talents, and treasures. Time is probably your biggest asset that you can give someone, an hour of your time. Go read to some kids who never get read to. Go to a senior center and talk to these seniors. I think that everybody can do at the end of the day, but they just have to use what they have, and those are with two times threes. When I grew up, that's what my mom did, that's what my grandmother did. They volunteered with the American Red Cross all the time, and with United Way. So, you know, for me, to give back is not unusual. My grandkids do the same thing. They're always volunteering with me, helping me sort things, helping me to put things together.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunity I see right now is visibility and partnerships. When people see an article about us or meet me, a lot of times they'll say, oh my god, there's a shelter in Atlanta, can you help them? Or, hey, I volunteered at this organization, and I'm Indian American, and we don't get a lot of support, can you help us? Just visibility of people who have not known about us, but yet should and could help us to help somebody else. I'm certainly open to anything and everything. I just want people to know that we exist and that we're there to answer some prayers for some women who just might be having a really hard time in their shelter. We're also working on grant applications now that I have more time since losing my job in December, and we're hoping to expand our reach. My hope and prayer is to have recognition of our brand in all 50 states, at least one city in all 50 states, and right now we're only in 14.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important values to me are giving back through time, talents, and treasures, and treating people with dignity and compassion. When I decided to give purses instead of just plastic bags, and to write a note of inspiration in every single one, it was because I wanted these women to know that they matter, that someone was praying for them. Everything in those purses is only for them, they're not sharing it, it's not something they have to give back. That personal touch, that dignity, is so important. For me, to give back is not unusual - when I grew up, that's what my mom did, that's what my grandmother did. They volunteered with the American Red Cross all the time, and with United Way. Now my grandkids do the same thing, they're always volunteering with me. It's about consistent acts of service and kindness. Even simple things matter, like putting out ice-cold water for the mailman or UPS driver in the summer. It doesn't cost much, but it's about being kind and thinking of others. I believe everybody can make a difference if they just use what they have.