Founder & CEO

I’m May, an impact strategist with a gift for reframing—supporting visionary leaders to gain clarity, build confidence, and bring bold missions to the next level. With nearly 15 years of cross-sector experience and a transdisciplinary lens, in 2024 I founded a capacity-building agency to help changemakers lead with strategy, sustainability, and scale.

As a multinational and military household, my upbringing across diverse communities revealed a core truth: success is not one-size-fits-all—it’s shaped by vision, adaptability, and aligned action. That insight sparked my passion for placemaking and collective action.

A systems thinker with a nonlinear path, I rose through the nonprofit sector to become an Executive Director, building expertise in fundraising, organizational strategy, and capacity-building along the way. But my entrepreneurial spirit led me to ask bigger questions—and ultimately, to build something of my own.

Today, I serve as a trusted advisor to visionary leaders, helping them translate ideas into impact—without burnout. My mission is simple: to cultivate pathways to shared prosperity and power through transformative solutions.

• “Above Expectations” annual performance evaluation as Executive Director

• Multi-entity leadership experience including 501c3, 501c4, and PAC

• Fundraised 6- and 7-figure contributions from donors, grants, and sponsors

• Coalition building experience with local grassroots and national alliances

• Supervised diverse and hybrid teams ranging up to 30 direct reports

• Recognized regionally for effective coaching that drives key business metrics

• Master of Science in Real Estate, Florida International University

• Master of Business Administration in Project Management, Fayetteville State University

• Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Fayetteville State University

• Leadership Miami, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce

• Leadership Development Program, United Way of Cumberland County

• Institute for Community Leadership, City of Fayetteville

• Citizens Academy, City of Fayetteville

Carrying a 14-year career, Maybelyn is an impact strategist, business scholar, and community advocate with a trans-disciplinary background rooted in radically reimagining pathways for shared prosperity and progressive power. A champion for racial and economic justice, she is deeply committed to advocating agency, dignity, equity, and sustainability through collective impact. This advocacy is infused with visionary passion to build an inclusive democracy and solidarity economy. In April 2024 she founded MRL Strategies LLC after serving as an executive director of a nonprofit community development coalition for nearly three years. Her expertise in capacity building and resource mobilization across market sectors focuses on facilitating practitioners, institutions, and investors to support place-based initiatives through community building, development, engagement, and organizing.

Maybelyn also engages with numerous civic, social, and political boards and alliances at grassroots and national levels. She most recently served on the Board of Directors for Community Opportunity Alliance (formerly NACEDA), a national nonprofit building the community development field, and is a former publicly appointed Human Relations Commissioner. Additionally, she is proud to be a two-time HBCU graduate and an emerging public scholar-practitioner exploring the praxis of movement and community investment. She holds a Bachelor of Art degree in Communications and Master of Business Administration degree concentrated in Project Management from Fayetteville State University (an HBCU) in addition to a Master of Science degree in Real Estate from Florida International University.