Maryjude has been practicing environmental and regional planning in New Jersey for 25 years. 

She began her professional career as an Environmental Land Use Specialist for the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, now the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.  Continuing in State government, she worked for the Department of Environmental Protection in the Division of Coastal Resources as an Urban Waterfront Planner, guiding development proposals and managing Coastal Zone Management contracts for communities along the Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic and Raritan Rivers.  Later, she was one of the first staff members of the new Office of State Planning, established to work for the State Planning Commission.  As a private consultant for The Fellows Read Organization and ACT Engineers, Inc., she worked for a broad range of clients including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection, Mercer County Improvement Authority, and other county and municipal agencies.  She was the Project Manager of the Duck Island Master Plan, a 2,000 acre area along the Delaware River south of downtown Trenton.  She was also the primary author of a Waterfront Public Access Manual prepared to guide development along the New Jersey coast.

Maryjude received a B.S.  from Rutgers University, Cook College where she majored in Environmental Planning and Design.  She earned a Master of City and Regional Planning from Rutgers School of Policy and Planning, now known as the Bloustein School.