MJ Korpela is a Senior Consultant with MAYA Consulting. She is dedicated to building deeply connected communities, with equitable health, education, and financial outcomes for women and communities of color. MJ is an advocate for direct, early investment in families and energized by building systems that merge sound research with the real time pulse of a community, keeping family voice and equity at the forefront.
At MAYA Consulting, MJ leads projects related to child welfare, trauma and attachment, early childhood education, family power building and DEI, investment and advocacy work in trust-based programs, and community engagement. She has extensive experience in family-centered programming and advocacy work, including 2Gen programming, trauma informed and attachment centered program models, mental health support & therapeutic milieu building, family empowerment and narrative change initiatives, and early childhood partnerships and advocacy. She was an original member of the Travis County Collaborative for Children (TCCC) in 2014 and has been a TBRI practitioner since 2015. She is also a Circle of Security Parenting facilitator including added Core Sensitivities training.
Prior to joining the MAYA team, MJ spent 7 years building and overseeing trauma-informed family and early childhood programming in Austin, TX. MJ relocated to Austin in 2014 from Minneapolis, MN, where she worked primarily in mental health and crisis response with women and children, focusing on trauma, attachment, and racial equity. She earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Minnesota and will defend her thesis this fall on building equitable, attachment centered 2Gen programs to finalize her MA in Counseling Psychology from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.
MJ lives in Austin with her husband, Marques, and their two children. She currently serves on the advisory board at both Mainspring Schools and UpTogether Austin and is a 2021 Austin 40 Under 40 Awards nominee. In her freetime, MJ is usually visiting family up north, meeting with her book club, trying new restaurants in Central Texas, or playing basketball or volleyball with friends.