We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maira Carrier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Maira , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
Like many other First-Generation students, I grew up depending on government assistance for food, shelter, and clothing. My mother was a young immigrant from Mexico when she arrived to the United States. She didn’t have much experience on life nor in being a parent. She raised my two sisters and I but sadly we faced many obstacles that shaped our life.
Throughout our journey, we met some amazing people. These people included teachers, nonprofit organizations, amongst other generous people who showed us the love that we desperately needed. I am one of the many children who went through childhood trauma and was able to become a successful healthy adult and I owe this to the noble people who loved me while I was living my worse experiences.
I wanted to create something to give as a symbol of care for any child who is experiencing emotional trauma. Sometimes all we need is a reminder that we are not alone and that someone out there loves us no matter what. I started to create personalized care packages for children who were living through tough situations and in May 2021, my dream became a reality with Maya’s Love.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Maira Alejandra Carrier I am first-generation high school and college graduate. I graduated high school from Los Fresnos High School in 2009. At the age of 17 I attended Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training in Fort Jackson South Carolina. I am the first in her family to join the military and am a ten-year Army veteran. During my time in the military, I was stationed throughout the world in locations like Korea, Germany, Kuwait, Israel, Bosnia, Romania, amongst others. During my time in the Army, I was the unit Army Substance Abuse Manager and the Suicide Prevention Manager assisting soldiers across multiple units. My education background is in Early Childhood Education, earned a BA Human Resource Development (HRD) with a Minor in History, and Master of Public Health (MPH) degree through Hawaii Pacific University.
My community engagement work is in multiple areas within San Antonio, Uvalde, and the lower Rio Grande Valley. In partnership with military veterans, teachers, social workers, and multiple members of the community, we work with at risk youth/communities to provide educational empowerment tools.
I am the Founder/CEO of Maya’s Love, a nonprofit organization that offers children and youth personalized care packages as an extra reminder of love. Maya’s Love includes a variety of resources for educating children, youth, and parents about trauma and trauma-sensitive practices and as a framework and roadmap for coping with trauma-sensitive events. The purpose of Maya’s Love is to create a sense of hope in the adverse situation that the child may be living.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Last year for Christmas, we were able to provide presents for our kiddos in San Antonio. I reached out to one of the best teachers in the world and she shared about this one amazing student. This child asked the school admin office if he could borrow their Christmas tree so his brothers and mom could have some Christmas magic during break. We both knew at that moment that we would make sure that this family had a Christmas and that it was special.
As we learned details about the kiddos to better personalize their presents, I learned that they only had their mother and it felt so familiar. That responsibility and heaviness to ensure that our families would be okay. We got together and we provided groceries, presents, goodies, and a special present for mom. I remembered how hard my mom tried when we were growing up, I remember that during Christmas we had one box of chocolate covered cherries from the dollar store as our present, and each year I opened the box and ate them thankfully, but regardless I felt sadness because my mom had no box to open. I wanted to make sure that I found a present for this student’s mom that would only be for her, so she too would have something to open on Christmas. I found the coziest, fluffiest, robe and I knew that was the one! When we dropped off the presents it was just amazing and we knew we met our goal for this family.
Almost a year later on Veterans Day I went to the school and as I was leaving, he approached me nervous and he said something around the lines of “Miss, I don’t know if you remember me, but last Christmas you came to my house and gave my mom a robe as a Christmas present. You and my teacher brought my brothers presents and food and I wanted to say thank you because I remember you.”
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Making decisions with selfless intentions. Centering myself to ensure that any decisions that are made are not based solely on emotion, but facts.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mayaslove.org
- Instagram: mayaslovenonprofit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mayaslovenonprofit
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/maira-carrier-843462172
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjNRTwyhorM&t=22s
- Other: https://linktr.ee/mairaalejandracarrier