After growing up in Harwood, MD, Maria Habershon attended the French Culinary Institute to become a pastry chef. After spending a year in the south of France, she took a pastry chef position at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, VA. However, when the General Manager encouraged her to try her hand in the front of house with her effusive personality, she did not look back. She worked her way up in management at the Ritz-Carlton till she joined the Bagby Restaurant Group in 2011. She has an incredible passion for hospitality, coffee, and tea. As she puts it, "You can’t have a good dessert without a good server and good coffee."