Maya and her family came from Bosnia to Boise as refugees in 1997 when she was 11 years old. As she has seen and been a part of Boise's growth from a small sleepy town to the city it is now, she considers herself more Idahoan than Bosnian or American. Much to her parents chagrin, her first career was as a cosmetologist while she operated her hair salon for 10 years. Since then she has had a career in Higher Education working at Boise State University. Since the pandemic Maya has exchanged her salsa dance shoes for a power drill and is spending a lot more time on managing her properties than salsa dancing. Being involved in the community has always been a passion and she enjoys planning events and volunteering for various nonprofit organizations.
Lok Darjee works to empower others from refugee and immigrant backgrounds to use their vote and their voices to help shape and preserve the...
Andrea Schmutz, who moved to the U.S. from the Philippines at age 18, is the founder of Empowering Immigrant Women in Pocatello, Idaho. She...
Eliza Shabire was a young girl when she and her sisters were separated from their father when he had to flee the Democratic Republic...