Maia Ihemeje

Maia is the founding director of Yung Prodigy, a grassroots organisation dedicated to liberating young people impacted by parental incarceration. With an unyielding commitment to social justice, Maia’s work spans the intersections of community development through the arts, agroliberation, anti-racism, and transformative justice, both domestically and abroad. Drawing deeply from her lived experience of proximity to the justice system, Maia created Yung Prodigy as a decolonial response to systemic neglect, providing authentic, self determined spaces for the “forgotten victims of crime”.

Beyond Yung Prodigy, Maia’s expertise shines through her impactful roles, including contributing to Australia’s National Anti-Racism Framework at the Australian Human Rights Commission, developing responsive policies targeting systemic inequities. Internationally, she has collaborated with grassroots organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, showcasing the power of arts and agroliberation to foster self-sufficiency and community journalism in displacement camps.

Maia’s academic background in social justice, paired with her hands-on leadership in governance, policy-making, and grassroots work, cements her reputation as a dynamic agitator. Her work is beyond advocacy but rather about dismantling systems of oppression.