Maia Thielen

An eclectic and curious person, Maia has always reveled in the alchemy of words.  Childhood delight in stringing together delicious adjectives to create vivid textual portraits evolved into a deep passion for conveying ideas through inventive, authentic writing: something she believes to be one of the most important tools of human connection as well as a sublime art.  

Following in her parents’ footsteps—both members of the Monterey Symphony for nearly 30 years—Maia’s journey began in music: studying Voice Performance and completing a Master’s in Music at the University of Washington.  During her music career, Maia performed along the West Coast with organizations like Opera San Jose and Pacific MusicWorks, at music festivals in Austria and Hawaii, and with industry legends like Kathleen Battle, Stephen Stubbs, and Eric Whitacre.  Upon completing her Master’s, Maia moved to Bozeman, MT where she served as the Events & Community Engagement Manager for the Bozeman Symphony.  When the cancellation of events due to the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an inconvenience for an Events Manager, Maia returned home to her native California as a Residential Faculty Member of Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley, where she worked closely with international and domestic boarding students and embraced other opportunities across campus like designing and teaching a Criminology class! 

Now, Maia is thrilled to utilize her diverse experiences and strengths as part of the York team, and is honored to help share her community’s story through her work.  A Steinbeck fanatic, she is overjoyed to have settled in Monterey, and can be found reading, running by the ocean, and volunteering.