Her Story
About Maya
I've been in the legal field for 20 years, and I'm starting a new position on April 20th as general counsel for a national nonprofit. In this role, I'll be setting up and leading the legal function, helping the organization through contracts, vendor relationships, IP licensing issues, and international partnerships. My main area of expertise is nonprofit law and general corporate legal work. Before this, I was VP of Legal and Compliance at Fortitude Mining, a crypto mining firm, for about one year. Prior to that, I was of counsel for a law firm here in Nashville, specializing in nonprofit and small business clients. I also served as general counsel for a national nonprofit focused on education for low-income children. My most notable professional achievement so far has been helping support a very large nonprofit that served 9,000 low-income elementary school children to improve access to education. I got into law with the intention of helping women and children - I actually found a letter to myself a couple years ago that reminded me of that. My intention was to help women and children and use my skills for that purpose, but do it in a way that I could use a structured approach to it.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maya
01What do you attribute your success to?
I have a natural curiosity, and that's helped me to ask a lot of questions to give me greater context. I would say my ability to listen to people and really try to understand where they're coming from has been important. And then my ability to stay calm in very difficult and stressful situations has been crucial to my success.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received wasn't necessarily something that was said to me, but rather something I learned from watching my mentor, Bob Ullman, who was a law firm partner when I was a younger associate. The way he handled incredibly stressful situations with defending white-collar alleged criminal defendants, or handling a very stressful white-collar criminal defense case, really taught me something valuable. He just took everything in stride and stayed really calm and was kind to everyone along the way, but was incredibly successful with what he did. That approach has really stuck with me.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be just to figure out what makes you passionate and what makes you tick, and pursue that, rather than pursuing what you think you should be pursuing because of other people's expectations.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
In the nonprofit world, there are always challenges. I would just say finding the right people who are in it for the long term is a big one. And sustaining those people, keeping them engaged and committed despite obstacles that they face, is really important.
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