Dear MAYA Community,
It is an incredible honor for me to write to you as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and majority owner of MAYA Consulting. In 2019, I chose to work with MAYA because its mission aligned so closely with my personal values. Our purpose, to support equity and excellence in community, so we all live a good life, has been my own personal drive over the course of my life and career.
As a Latina growing up in San Antonio, I observed deep inequities in the world from a very early age. I am grateful for, inspired by, and yet frustrated with the sacrifices my family made to support me, and the barriers my family and other families of color had to overcome. Unknowingly, from an early age, I was building a mental model around the critical importance of reimagining systems to create better outcomes for children and families, which has had a deep impact on my professional journey.
More important than my frustrations, I also felt inspired and motivated by the power, love, and creativity within my community. I am inspired everyday by family–both my own and the families supported by the organizations we work with every day. I believe every child and family should be happy and healthy, period, and the keys to making this happen are to start as early as possible, to support whole families, to extend holistic support into adulthood, and to know when to step aside in order to leverage the existing power of children, youth, and families with lived experience. I truly believe our society would be stronger if we collectively operated in this way.
My time at MAYA has allowed me to lean into my personal and professional experiences and expand our mission. I know when families feel good and supported, have low stress or know how to navigate stressors, their kids will feel good and supported too; and that when educational systems are community-centered; nurturing, responsive, and uniquely designed to meet the needs of their children, families, and teachers; our whole community will thrive. Similarly, I know when my team members are nurtured and thriving, innovation will flourish and barriers will be dismantled, which is why I approach my leadership by making a strong connection between internal, organizational systems and structures and external equitable results for children, youth, and families.
I look forward to working alongside you all to deepen our strategic focus in supporting children and families. Together, across the prenatal-to-postsecondary sectors, we’ll focus on the following:
- Continue to support innovative, evidence-based, community-centered school systems. Building on our strong track record in Texas, we’ve recently expanded our support to include the US Department of Education and the Maryland Department of Education.
- Center community voice. We hire consultants with lived experience to lead alongside us in our engagements, and approach our engagements by truly listening to, and designing with, community members
- Deepen our impact upstream in the prenatal-8 sector by supporting philanthropy, policy, and community-based organizations in achieving equitable outcomes for families and their young children
- Support systems leaders in being results- and equity-focused with results-based leadership support to systems leaders to achieve equitable results for children and families
- Build data culture with our partner organizations by helping them shift mindsets, build systems, center community voice, and ensure proper infrastructure to create a true data-driven organization.
This is an exciting time for MAYA. We are here together to fulfill our purpose to support equity and excellence in community so we all live a good life. I am honored to be here in community and doing this important work with each of you. If you’d like to learn more about me, the MAYA team, our work, or are interested in working with us, please do reach out. I look forward to connecting with you and continuing this important work with you.
Sincerely,
Kassi Longoria