Maya Enista Smith

Maya Enista Smith is a non-profit and philanthropic consultant, working as Youth and Communities Advisor for Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation. Most recently, Ms. Enista served eight years as Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize.org, a growing and innovative Millennial organization whose mission is to improve democracy by investing in Millennial-driven solutions.

At 29 years old, Maya is a veteran in the public service sector, beginning her non-profit career a decade ago. Maya has been active in public service since she was an undergraduate at Rutgers University, focusing mainly on voter empowerment and youth civic engagement. She began her career as the East Coast Coordinator for Rock The Vote at age 17, a position in which she registered over 30,000 young people. Through her work with Rock The Vote, Maya was awarded the first ever Rock The Vote “Rockin’ The Street’s” Award. She continued her voter registration work when she accepted the position of National Field Director for the Hip Hop Civic Engagement Project, a project that grew out of the successful National Hip Hop Political Convention in Newark, NJ.

For her leadership, Maya has been awarded a YouthActionNet Fellowship, the Independent Sector NGEN American Express Fellowship, Utne Reader’s 50 Visionaries Changing Your World Award, WIN’s Young Women of Achievement Award and Gelman, Rosenberg + Freedman 20011 EXCEL Award for Excellence in Non-Profit Management. In 2011, Maya was awarded the competitive Prime Movers Fellowship of the Hunt Alternatives Fund. Maya, very proud of her Jersey roots, grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey and attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She currently resides in the Bay Area with her husband, David, their son, Hunter and their two black labs, Hudson and Zinny.