Maya Bird-Murphy is an architectural designer, educator, and the founder of Mobile Makers, an award-winning nonprofit organization bringing design and skill-building workshops to underrepresented communities. She believes the design field must expand to include more people and perspectives through teaching and community engagement, and she hopes to make her mark by helping make the world a more equitable place to live.

She is a 2024 United States Artists Fellow, 2023 Harvard GSD Wheelwright Prize Finalist, was selected by Theaster Gates and the Prada Group as an Experimental Design Lab awardee, and was featured as one of 50 people who shape Chicago in Newcity Magazine. This is what a typical Tuesday looks like for Maya in Chicago.

9:00am: I am not a morning person! Now that I’m not working in a traditional architecture role, I enjoy sleeping in and don’t schedule early meetings unless necessary. I need my eight hours!

9:30am: By now, I’ve taken the dogs out, fed them, and started getting ready to leave. On days I work from home, I love a slow morning routine, including my favorite black coffee from Colectivo. Today, I’m headed into the “office.”

10:00am: I live in Oak Park, the first suburb west of Chicago. You might know it—it’s famous for its many Frank Lloyd Wright houses. This is where I grew up. I lived in the city for almost ten years and moved back about four years ago. My commute is only about fifteen minutes by car, which is amazing. I drive straight through the West Side of Chicago to get to Humboldt Park—lots of rich history and culture in these neighborhoods.

10:15am: I arrive at the Kimball Art Center, where Mobile Makers is. This building is full of small, creative businesses and is directly adjacent to the Bloomingdale Trail, a rails-to-trails park system. When I walk in, I often drop my stuff off in our space and head to Dayglow Coffee at the other end of the building to get some caffeine.

10:30am: Routine is very important to me, so I start with my to-do list. I like to write this down on a Karst pad—there’s something special about putting tasks on paper and checking them off.

11:00am: On Tuesdays, we have an 11:00 all-team meeting. The Chicago team meets in the conference room, and we call the Boston team to check in. We go through our Trello cards one by one and talk about updates and progress. By the end of this meeting, we have a clear understanding of what tasks need to be finished, who’s working on what, and what meetings need to be scheduled for the rest of the week.

Mobile Makers HQ. Photography by Tom Harris.

12:00pm: At this point, I’m getting hungry, as I’m not a breakfast person. I snack throughout the day. I get back to my to-do list and start working through the tasks. These can include reviewing and giving feedback on a team member’s work, responding to countless emails, writing grants, creating schedules, or strategizing how to land new project work. We work on so many different things at Mobile Makers. I could be helping write a curriculum for a youth program, creating a community engagement strategy proposal, thinking through how to turn students’ designs into technical drawings to get built by fabricators, or touching base with current or potential partners.

2:00pm: Mobile Makers has a thirty-hour work week, so our in-office hours are very chill. I think it’s essential for us to gather at our space a few times a week to meet and solve problems more quickly and move projects forward. If there are no after-school youth programs, we start heading home in the early afternoon. It’s a hybrid model, so team members choose when to work throughout the week.

2:30pm: If it’s a day that I head home early, this is when I have a big lunch and take a break. And I take the dogs out.

Youth and parents at a Mobile Makers program. Courtesy of Maya Bird-Murphy.

3:00pm: I love working out in the middle of my workday. Working out has become essential for my mental health. It felt like a chore at first, but it has kept the sometimes crippling stress and anxiety of running a business in balance. During the pandemic, I became obsessed with cycling, which is still my favorite hobby. If it’s warm, I’ll often ride up to thirty miles to on the Salt Creek Trail during my break. If it’s zero degrees like today, I put my bike on a trainer in my office and ride inside. I have also been going to a personal trainer for strength training. It’s been amazing to invest in my mental and physical health. I have a protein shake after my workout and get back to work.

4:30pm: Our after-school youth programs run from 4:30-6:30. This gives you an idea why we don’t start our day earlier! We run design, architecture, digital fabrication, and basic construction programs up to three times a week for students ages eight to eighteen. Now that I have a team, I don’t teach as much as I used to. If I don’t need to attend the program, I stay home and continue working remotely.

6:30pm: I’m hungry again. My partner usually gets home around this time, and we figure out dinner. I’m a bit of a homebody, but this could very well be when I head to an event, dinner, or drinks.

8:00pm: I made a rule for myself that I would not open my laptop after 8pm to keep working, but this happens about half of the time. I’m definitely a night owl, and sometimes I feel more productive in the evening. TV is another de-stressor for me, so this is also when I catch up on shows. Sometimes, I watch and work at the same time.

10:30pm: I let the dogs out in the backyard. I like winding down and getting into bed early. I try to avoid scrolling and instead read before bed. A fun fact is that I need music to fall asleep. I was an extremely energetic child, and my parents used to put on classical music tapes to make me go to sleep. I guess it stuck! I use the Calm app and am trying to get in the habit of meditating before bed. I’ve worked very hard to create a schedule that balances work, life, and health.

This piece has been edited and condensed for clarity.

A Day in Chicago with Mobile Makers' Maya Bird-Murphy