Maya’s Story

Maya’s love of music was introduced to her through Euro-classical music from a fateful fiddle of the radio at two years old. It wasn’t until she was six years old that she began her artistic training with piano lessons at her local community center, followed swiftly by violin group classes at her elementary/middle school Thomas G. Pullen. Once in middle school, she played in the College Park Youth Orchestra and studied privately with Lerna May Frandsen until her acceptance into Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA). There, she studied under Dr. Mellasenah Edwards and participated in numerous festivals, performances and events at the school and abroad, concluding her studies by traveling as a BSA student ambassador to Italy and Ghana.

The merger between Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music attracted Maya to study Violin Performance at Boston Conservatory at Berklee under Lynn Chang. Her time at the institution allowed her to study music technology topics like music production, DJing, and electronic music performance while also creating a minor in Screen Scoring, all within a modern Euro-classical conservatory environment. Her time in college also confirmed her love of knowledge and scholarly pursuits. A Presser Scholar and member of the Berklee Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s inaugural class of Change Scholars, Maya has found that by using research as a basis of her artistic work, she can drive profound change through pursuing unanswered questions. 

Ever since she could hold a pencil, Maya has always been writing. Between her avid reading, journaling and fictional writing, her creative writing has developed her into a unique wordsmith. She rediscovered this love when she was chosen as Senior Speaker for Boston Conservatory’s Virtual Commencement Ceremony and is continuing to pursue writing as a complement to her artistic career.