Since May 2021, Mary has been supporting the Evaluation team at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, where she assists in engagement strategy and special projects. Previously, she supported the foundation's Public Affairs - Entrepreneurship team with the Entrepreneurship Summit and the Mayors Conference on Entrepreneurship, in addition to working with the Entrepreneurship and Real World Learning teams.

​

She was the Plant Communications Manager at General Motors Fairfax Assembly & Stamping in Kansas City, Kansas from 2018 to 2019, where she supported key plant business objectives through strategic communications, internal and external product education and community relations. She built alliances with all plant stakeholders and local union leadership and partnered with human resources to improve the business culture of the organization. Previously, she was Manager, Client Experience at Weber Shandwick Detroit, working on site at the Kansas City manufacturing plant for client General Motors in a similar capacity. She was responsible for the public launch of the first-ever Cadillac XT4.

 

Prior to that, she was Director of Corporate Affairs at Compass Minerals in Overland Park, Kansas, where she was responsible for developing and executing policies, programs and services in support of the company's overall operation, community and growth strategy.

 

From 2012 to 2014, she was Communications Director at Bromley Communications, a Publicis Groupe company, in San Antonio, Texas. She was responsible for developing and implementing the advertising agency’s overall strategic public relations programs, including overseeing departmental planning, revenue growth, profitability, quality of work, client relations and strategic development. She was a Director on the account management team, also.

​

She held leadership positions at Univision Television Network in New York City and Miami, and was a telecom executive in Kansas City, also. As a consultant in Overland Park, Kansas, she provided branding, communications, social media and Hispanic marketing services, which included working with the 2007 National Council of La Raza (formerly NCLR, now Unidos US) American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Awards, that was broadcast on ABC Television Network.

​

Padilla has a bachelor's degree in journalism with a concentration in advertising from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.