Following an early career in community development and voluntary sector training and facilitation in her native London, Maya Middlemiss transitioned to full-time home-based working at the turn of the millennium, by founding a market research fieldwork agency.
Despite a new arrival and very few resources available for information and support, she taught herself to develop and manage what turned out to be a fully remote working team, in an era when this was still very unusual – and when the communications and collaboration technology infrastructure seemed unthinkably prehistoric, compared with the present day.
As her team grew and remote team management practices evolved, she and her husband decided to relocate their young family to the Spanish Costa Blanca. In pursuit of a healthier and happier family lifestyle (and some viable broadband), they enjoyed days on the beach and out hiking, while working for clients around the world, and managing a team spread over 3 countries.
Maya ended up writing a tech and social media column for the local English newspaper, and since 2017 has been freelancing permanently, as an author, journalist, and consultant. The family are now settled on the edge of Valencia in Eastern Spain.
In 2018 Maya became an e-resident of Estonia, and since then trades as BlockSparks OÜ, telling stories about the social impact of technology and future trends, and following her passion for the tools and practices which enable people to live and work and thrive, where they feel most fulfilled and happy.
She writes about subjects from collaboration platforms to cryptocurrency, and writes and podcasts regularly for London-based remote work consultancy Virtual Not Distant, as well as writing for UC Today, and a range of other brands and publications. She has written a novel about bitcoin, Beyond the Chain, and co-authored Thinking Remote: Inspiration for Leaders of Distributed Teams.
Despite her passion for all things technological, Maya is also a big advocate for unplugging from all of it regularly – immersing herself in the enjoyment of travel, hiking, music, yoga, and all that her chosen home has to offer. So if she’s not at her desk or on her phone, you’ll find her on the beach or halfway up a mountain somewhere… Where all her best creative ideas seem to happen.