Maria Paz works in the agriculture and animal care sector as the CEO and Co-Founder of Zavia Bio. For American agricultural producers and large international agricultural-input companies seeking to address climate-related issues in food production, Zava Bio is a biotechnology company that offers novel biological inputs for agriculture that can increase crop yields in the context of global warming, fight weeds in a sustainable way, extend the shelf life of vegetables, and reduce crop losses due to pathogens. Maria Paz aims to conduct field trials in the United States to obtain regulatory approval in the US market in the short term and ultimately to replace all phytosanitary products with biological inputs that are equally effective and inexpensive but also environmentally friendly and sustainable. Coming into the YLAI Fellowship, Maria Paz's top business challenge is Finance. More specifically, they wish to learn how to achieve Zavia Bio’s short-, medium-, and long-term objectives. During the Fellowship Placement, Maria Paz hopes to gain knowledge of ways to tackle the challenges the company is facing and establish relevant partnerships.