Maya and her fellow Delta Delta sisters on graduation day in 2021.
After graduating in 2021, Maya spent a year working for the Alpha Phi Foundation as chapter giving coordinator. “It’s a very full-circle moment that I got to help Alpha Phis attend Disney Institute, and now I work for Disney,” Maya says. Following her time with the Foundation, Maya danced on a Norwegian cruise line and served in Kansas City Ballet’s fundraising department. After a year of performing stateside, she received an offer to work aboard the Disney Wonder. Maya set sail in March, where she performs in nightly shows through the end of September. "It's been a lot of work — between running rehearsals, learning choreography, communicating with leadership and dancers and teaching routines to new cast members who join the vessel along the way,” Maya shares. “However, I’m beyond excited to work for such a well-known company and to travel the world.” Maya packed plenty of books and paint for her journey. Getting lost in someone else’s story helps her unwind after 12-hour days of dancing. And when she’s missing her family and friends, Maya finds comfort painting them custom postcards to let them know where she is and what she’s been up to along the way. This Alpha Phi’s life trajectory has been anything but linear, from working in nonprofits to traveling the world as a professional dancer. She has found home on both land and water, and she has faced rejection more times than she can count — a hard truth in this industry. For these reasons and many others, Maya most aligns with Alpha Phi’s high ideal of innovation. “I’ve had to be very innovative and creative to continue working in the industry I do, an industry my two-year-old self would be proud
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