Canvas Rebel Magazine: Meet Dr. Maya Faison

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Maya Faison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Maya, appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Dr. Maya Angelou

I have always been an overachiever, used to being at the top, I typically received very little criticism because I excelled at most things I did. Until I went to work at NC State University as their recruitment strategist. I was charged with creating a strategy to increase the number of highly qualified candidates of color for their education degree program. I used data in new ways that created a targeted approach to outreach; crafted new events and initiatives to build excitement about our degree programs; and built authentic relationships with potential new students and their families. Again, I was excelling. I remember creating a brochure for one of the new initiatives and sharing it with my supervisor, the Dean of the college. She gave it back to me with red marks everywhere– edits where as small as “you have an extra space here” or “this line is slightly more indented than the previous”. Instead of celebrating the innovative content I had created, the Dean was giving me feedback on the tiniest of details. When I asked her why, she said because “everything communicates”. She told me that the smallest of details matter and communicate whether or not we care enough to present our best to our stakeholders. When constituents see that we care enough to demonstrate excellence in the smallest areas, they can be assured that we also will take care to execute with excellence at a macro level. And when people see that you care enough to give them excellence at all levels, it makes them feel important and valued.

Although my supervisor at the time may not have realized it, she helped craft the mantra by which I live my life, run my business, and interact with people across the world: my goal is always to make people feel important and valued. I want them to feel the joy radiating from me and know that I am genuinely excited to share space with them. This has become critical for my work as a consultant and executive coach. My favorite quote from Dr. Maya Angelou (my namesake) sums up my approach to living based off of those red pen notes in the margins from my Dean over 20 years ago: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

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