Alumni Spotlight: Maia Ferdman
Building Belonging Through Dialogue
Growing up in a Jewish Argentinian family in San Diego, Maia Ferdman was immersed in stories of migration, identity, and cross-cultural understanding from an early age. She came to UCLA drawn to global issues, unsure exactly where her path would lead. That clarity came during her time with the Olive Tree Initiative (our team’s original organization before CIEL), when she joined a student delegation to Israel and Palestine.
In refugee camps and sacred cities, across checkpoints and dinner tables, Maia encountered competing narratives not as theory — but as lived experience. “It dislodged me from my worldview,” she later wrote. The trip pushed her to sit with complexity, to listen without needing to agree, and to see the power of face-to-face dialogue. When she returned to campus, she didn’t just reflect — she took action. Maia participated in the UCLA chapter of OTI and later participated in alumni activities, and she wrote about her experiences for the Daily Bruin.
After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Global Studies and Master's degree in Latin American Studies, Maia deepened her commitment to cross-cultural learning. She spent time abroad in India, Israel, and Bulgaria, and launched her career creating experiences that investigated and honored diversity and difference within the Jewish community. Over the next few years, Maia expanded this charge to work in intergroup relations, staffing the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and working on city-wide projects focused on racial equity, interfaith dialogue, and community safety. She trained as a mediator, facilitated restorative justice circles, and helped design civic listening sessions in neighborhoods often excluded from policymaking.
She returned to work at UCLA in 2020, first with the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy, and later with the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. Meanwhile, she founded Bridges Intergroup Relations Consulting, a practice that supports governments, nonprofits, and universities in creating spaces of belonging. She continued to facilitate dialogues about everything from homelessness, to policing, to Israel-Palestine, and to work with nonprofits and government entities seeking to bridge divides.
Today, Maia is the staff director of UCLA’s Dialogue Across Difference Initiative and deputy director of the Bedari Kindness Institute. She has come full circle, helping pave the way for more students to have the transformative experiences that she had with the Olive Tree Initiative and build UCLA's muscle for navigating differences. Whether she’s leading facilitation training, designing community dialogues, or mentoring student leaders, her work always returns to the same core principle: empathy is a skill — and dialogue is a discipline.
From college campus forums to civic institutions, Maia’s story is a powerful reminder that one immersive experience can spark a lifelong dedication to bridging divides — and to helping others feel seen, heard, and connected.