Her Story
About Mayana
Mayana Kingery is a community builder, nonprofit founder, educational consultant, and program developer whose career has been dedicated to empowering individuals and strengthening communities through collaboration, creativity, and service. Her passion for education emerged from her own unconventional journey, having left high school in the eleventh grade before earning her GED and pursuing college studies. Beginning her career as an educational consultant with Discovery Toys and Dorling Kindersley Books, she developed innovative literacy partnerships between schools and major corporations, including Boeing, and built a network of distributors committed to expanding access to educational resources. Her commitment to learning through play led her to establish Literacy Outreach in Washington State, where she partnered with the University of Puget Sound to create after-school programs that dramatically improved student achievement among at-risk youth.
Throughout her more than three decades of leadership in education, nonprofit development, and community engagement, Mayana has worked with schools, government agencies, and mission-driven organizations to create lasting impact. Following the Columbine tragedy, she served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education, researching and evaluating school violence reporting practices across state education agencies. She later collaborated with the Idaho Transportation Department to build the Idaho Highway Safety Coalition, manage grant programs, and develop award-winning public safety campaigns. Her expertise in organizational development also led her to restructure private schools, guide board governance, create policies and operational systems, and develop innovative outdoor education programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Known for her ability to bring diverse stakeholders together, she has consistently championed co-creative approaches to leadership and community transformation.
In 2012, Mayana co-founded Peace Production, a global nonprofit umbrella organization dedicated to fostering collaboration, education, wellness, and conscious community building. Through Peace Production, she has supported multiple programs and initiatives that encourage service, personal growth, and collective action. In 2024, she was invited to help transform the Global Grandmothers Council Network into a nonprofit organization, guiding its growth from approximately 1,900 members to more than 55,000 participants worldwide while launching a magazine dedicated to preserving and sharing the wisdom of elder women. Drawing inspiration from mentors such as Barbara Marx Hubbard, Suzanne Lewis, Connie Rickman, and Gail Crozmas, Mayana continues to advance her mission of creating spaces where wisdom is shared, communities are strengthened, and people are empowered to co-create a more compassionate and peaceful world.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Mayana
01What do you attribute your success to?
Knowing myself and getting rid of all of my inner fears. I know myself so well that I'm not in conflict with myself in what I choose to do. So many people will do something just because they need the money, take a job just because they have to, and everyone's in survival mode. I've lived in survival mode, I know what it's like, and yet I could never just take a job to take a job. My heart had to be in it. My passion had to go with it for me to do it. For me to take a job with the Idaho Transportation Department, that was a huge thing for me, but I knew that what they wanted me to do in building this Idaho Highway Safety Coalition, they hired me because I'm an energy worker. They hired me because of my level of consciousness, and that's a big thing for a 3D government organization in a red state.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Know yourself. Know your gifts and talents, and don't try to do what's not yours to do.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Surround yourself, something I did not have, with women elders. Listen to the Indigenous elders in your community. Listen to how we be human, and figure out how to be the best human you can be before you start trying to bring your gifts to the world. Because if you don't know yourself, and what your gifts and talents are, you could be bringing a miscreation that would not support you and be helpful for you. So it's really important to have inner peace and surround yourself with wise elders that you listen to and care for. And service. You have to have a heart of service, that everything you do is for the greater good of all, not just for yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is finances. People won't fund things that aren't in the system of making profit, that have value beyond I'm gonna get something back for the money I give. That's really the core issue, especially for nonprofits right now, because the first Trump administration changed the tax laws and made it so foundations didn't have to give as much money every year, they could keep it in the bank and not give it away. So the hospitals and the big foundations quit funding community projects, and the grants from the government stopped. Funding dried up everywhere because people didn't have to give to get a tax deduction. So nobody gave because they weren't getting tax deductions, and that's still happening. That has not been corrected. So that's the biggest challenge, especially for service work and community building, is finding people willing to share. We have 55,000 grandmothers in the Global Grandmothers, and they're not giving. In all of the projects, getting financial funding is the biggest challenge.
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