Maritsa Georgiou is a well-respected journalist in Montana and around the nation. 

Her reporting on the planned removal of United States Postal Service boxes leading up to the largely mail-in election of 2020 earned her the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism. It might have also thwarted a conniving attempt to swing the election.

A year earlier, the Montana Broadcasters Association awarded her the E.B. Craney Award for Television Broadcaster of the Year.

Maritsa started working for NBC Montana when she was still a junior at the University of Montana in 2006. She worked there until 2021, when she moved on to Scripps News to work as a national correspondent. She also anchored “America Tonight,” before losing her job when Scripps eliminated more than 200 employees during a mass layoff last November.

Maritsa grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, which is a suburb of Minneapolis. She came to Montana to study at one of the best journalism schools in the country. She also arrived in the Treasure State with some serious Montana roots.

Those roots include her grandfather, Barry ZeVan. Many years before he was the famous “Peek-a-Boo” weather man in Minnesota, ZeVan worked as Missoula’s first television meteorologist. Before that, ZeVan worked for KXLF Radio in Butte.

Early in 2025, Maritsa teamed up with another newly-unemployed Montanan, former Sen. Jon Tester. Together, they created the “Grounded” podcast. It is a widely entertaining podcast with some exceptional — and important — conversation and journalism. 

Also, with their combined credentials and connections, Maritsa and Sen. Tester have some serious reach for guests. Recent guests include former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, “Anonymous” op-ed writer Miles Taylor, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

The episode with Sen. Booker dropped earlier this week. In addition to some hard-hitting heckling between Tester and Booker, Maritsa and Sen. Tester got to the bottom of how Sen. Booker pulled off a 25-hour filibuster in the U.S. Senate without once using the restroom. He wasn’t wearing a diaper, either.

Listen in to today’s podcast as Maritsa talks about the influence of her grandfather in her career and why she chose to come to the Treasure State to study. Listen as she talks about the story that won her the Cronkite Award.

Listen as she talks about working with former Sen. Tester and why the Big Sandy farmer is the genuine article.

Today’s podcast is presented by the ⁠⁠⁠Kvichak Fish Co. ⁠⁠⁠Think of it as salmon and halibut gone Girl Scout cookie. Place your order today.