Social worker, innovator and arts enthusiast, Esta Maril has focused endless energy on enhancing the social welfare of children and promoting the arts. Born in 1921, Esta's childhood was heavily influenced by her mother's role as the family's main breadwinner. Esta majored in English at Johns Hopkins University and spent summers working at Hutzler's Department Store. Believing that her life had been too sheltered, Esta pursued social work, graduating with a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in the 1940s. Esta directed a mental health clinic in Baltimore County and worked in private practice before her marriage in 1948 to Herman Maril, whom she met through their mutual interest in art. Following the birth of their children, David and Nadja, Esta worked at The Park School, creating a mother-tot program that emphasized the socialization of young children and parenting skills for mothers. Esta and her husband spent summers actively involved in the community of artists in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Since Herman's death in 1986, Esta has been organizing her husband's archives and art collection and is writing an account of the couple's lifelong involvement in the arts.