Maia McDonald‍ is an award-winning Chicago-based independent journalist and self-proclaimed funky fashion enthusiast. She is currently a Civic Information Fellow for City Bureau, a non-profit civic media organization on the South Side of Chicago, and serves as vice president of the Chicago Journalists Association.

Previously, Maia did investigative reporting, visual journalism, and audience engagement for The Investigative Project on Race and Equity. Her work has also appeared in local and national publications like Block Club Chicago, Capital B News, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Guardian, The Progressive, In These Times, The TRiiBE, Teen Vogue, and other news outlets.

Maia’s work with her former colleagues at the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, an investigation into the struggles Black seniors in Chicago face trying to obtain home improvement loans and build generational wealth, was awarded two Peter Lisagor Awards by the Chicago Headline Club for Best Business Reporting: Small Print/Online and Best Race and Diversity Reporting: Small Print/Online in 2024.

She also contributed reporting to an investigation into the impact of Cook County’s property tax and foreclosure system on homeowners of color which won second place in the 2025 Shaufler Prize in Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The investigation led the Illinois General Assembly to consider passing a package of bills that would have have ensured that homeowners who lose their homes due to delinquent property taxes are reasonably compensentated. It also won a 2026 Peter Lisagor Award for Best Reporting on Race and Diversity: Small Print/Online.

Additionally, her investigative work on racial disparities in traffic stops on Illinois college campuses, also reported with her former colleagues at the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, won two 2026 Peter Lisagor Awards for Best Reporting on Race and Diversity: Student and Best Reporting on Crime and Justice: Student.

Maia earned her Bachelor of Journalism degree in Radio/TV Reporting and Anchoring from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2018.  There, she worked as a general assignment reporter for the local NBC-affiliate news station, KOMU 8 News, which has a coverage area of about 150,000 families throughout Mid-Missouri.

You can also find her on X at @maiamcdonld, Bluesky at @maiamcdonald.me, and her fashion blog at maia.pink, currently publishing on Substack as the maiazine! newsletter.