Four "Now Generation" Leaders to Watch in 2010: Meet Maya Enista

Maya Enista has been with Mobilize.org since July 2005. She has worked in both the Washington, D.C. and California offices as the Chief Operating Officer. On March 3rd, 2008, Maya became the Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize.org, following the departure of Founder and Executive Director David Smith. At 26 years old, Maya is a veteran in the public service sector, beginning her non-profit career 8 years 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. Maya organized a 13 state campaign that registered over 300,000 new voters in the "hip hop generation." In addition to her work with Mobilize.org, Maya serves on the Advisory Board for CIRCLE, the Working Group for the Civic Health Index of the National Conference on Citizenship, and the Board of Directors for Youth Service California. For her leadership, Maya has been awarded a YouthActionNet Fellowship, the Independent Sector NGEN American Express Fellowship and Utne Reader’s 50 Visionaries Changing Your World Award. Maya, very proud of her Jersey roots, grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey and attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. Her black labs, Hudson and Zin, have grown accustomed to her busy life style and have now lived in 5 states in less than 2 years.