Maya Lefkowich
She/her
Maya is an applied researcher, evaluator, and knowledge translation expert with over 15 years of experience working in Public Health, non-profit, community, and arts sectors. Her work is grounded in lived experience as a Toronto-born queer woman of Jewish & Eastern European descent and creative practice as a ceramic artist. Values of creativity, justice, and integrity guide everything she does. Maya has completed a BA (international development), a certificate in non-profit management, a Master of Public Health (gender & health promotion), and PhD (interdisciplinary studies).
Expertise
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Evaluation and research design
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Developmental, process & outcome evaluation
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Community, action, and participatory research
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Public Health research
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Organizational & exploratory studies
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Qualitative data collection
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Interviewing (imaginative, narrative, motivational & trauma-informed)
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Focus group facilitation
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Observation & ethnography
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Case study
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Journey mapping
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Most Significant Change
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Qualitative data analysis (thematic, discourse, narrative, grounded theory, interpretive, descriptive)
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Arts-based data collection
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Visual methods (photo elicitation, photovoice, drawing, collage)
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Literary methods (poetry, narrative inquiry, storytelling)
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Mixed media (digital storytelling)
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Reporting (for government, community, donors/funders)
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Academic manuscript writing (for peer-reviewed journals)
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Presentations, public lectures & keynote addresses
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Curriculum design, workshop facilitation & teaching
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Technical writing & health communication
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Needs assessments & gap analysis
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Environmental scans, scoping reviews, systematic reviews
What drives Maya?
People are messy! Our experiences and perspectives are complex. So, it can be hard to squish our vast thinking, feeling, and doing into tidy boxes or scales. And, we shouldn’t have to. That’s why she uses qualitative and arts-based data collection methods in research and evaluation to foster meaningful participation, actionable findings, and organizational learning. With a strong background in qualitative interviewing, group facilitation, observation, and storytelling, Maya helps clients answer the important “why” and “how” questions of their work without burdening their communities with out-of-touch, onerous, or unwanted questions.
What is the Best Part About Maya's Job?
It's what she calls the “Deep Breath.” Her clients are busy making the world a better place for their communities. They are often exhausted and rely on hand-me-down surveys and evaluation templates to reach the next reporting deadline or funding cycle. It’s her job to help them slow down by building in a deep breath so they have the space to ask questions, find answers, and recharge. When they have the spaciousness to imagine, her clients ask amazing questions, and she loves using creative data collection techniques to find the answers.
Evaluation and research design, Developmental, process & outcome evaluation, Community, action, and participatory research, Public Health research, Organizational & exploratory studies, Qualitative data collection, Interviewing (imaginative, narrative, motivational & trauma-informed), Focus group facilitation, Observation & ethnography, Case study, Journey mapping, Most Significant Change, Qualitative data analysis (thematic, discourse, narrative, grounded theory, interpretive, descriptive), Arts-based data collection, Visual methods (photo elicitation, photovoice, drawing, collage), Literary methods (poetry, narrative inquiry, storytelling), Mixed media (digital storytelling), Reporting (for government, community, donors/funders), Academic manuscript writing (for peer-reviewed journals), presentations, public lectures & keynote addresses, Curriculum design, workshop facilitation & teaching, Technical writing & health communication, Needs assessments & gap analysis, Environmental scans, scoping reviews, systematic reviews
