Maria K. Malayter, Ph.D., Executive Director, Do What You Love Foundation
Maria K. Malayter, Ph.D. is Executive Director, Do What You Love Foundation, a new start up non profit and is an Adjunct Professor at Webster University in the graduate school of the George Herbert Walker School of Business. She is the author of Boomers: Visions of the New Retirement and “Defining a New Model for the Transformational Retirement” in the Refractive Thinker Vol. III Change Management award winning book of the Lentz Leadership Institute.
During her dynamic and diverse 20+ year career, Maria has been as a highly rated speaker, systems specialist, negotiator, higher education administrator, educator, and consultant for public and private organizations across the country. Internationally interviewed for her retirement projects, she’s been quoted by the Chicago Tribune, speaker at international conferences, and a reviewer for session selection at several aging conferences. Dr. Malayter’s decision to study retirement began at Great Lakes in 1993. She currently is one of the pioneers of the positive aging movement on a national level by serving on the advisory board to the Positive Aging national conference and serves as the Illinois chair of Lifelong: Coalition for Older Learner Programs. At the completion of her retirement research and the findings of a happy, successful retirement means living close to family, Dr. Malayter relocated closer to her family in the western suburbs of Chicago.
She’s been a college professor since 1990 in both full and part time capacities teaching courses ranging from career management, interpersonal communication, leadership and organizational change, to human resources. Teaching and mentoring has always been a part of Dr. Malayter’s path both for pay or on a volunteer basis. Besides work life, Dr. Malayter has been highly involved in her community and her national sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha.
Dr. Malayter’s spiritual life has always played a large role throughout her life time. Her faith journey has carried her through both the grows and glows of life. The Do What You Love Foundation was inspired by her involvement with teaching her personally designed courses called “Finding Your Passion” that she offered at Faith Lutheran Church in Aurora, Illinois. She joined the church with insistence of her childhood friend Kristen and became a member.
Dr. Malayter’s current project is helping people in the second half of life find creative passion through the Do What You Love Foundation. She was inspired to start the foundation to give one of her Faith friends non profit experience since he was unemployed and looking to transition into the non profit field. His leadership seminar at the church was one of the reasons she joined the church. As Maria became more involved in the church, the music and media director noticed her photography skills. The music and media director continued to encourage her photography ;not knowing one of Maria’s passion’s is photography. The foundation is still in its start up phase and it will continue to become its own masterpiece. Currently, a few of Dr. Malayter’s photos are being shown in the Naperville Art League Gallery and at the gallery at North Central College. The proceeds of the sales will benefit Faith Lutheran Church, Transitional Living Services (serving those with traumatic brain injuries), and the Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority Foundation.
Doc Maria reminds us: “Life is short, Do What You Love”.
