Maj grew up in Belgium and graduated as an ecologist, with a PhD in the Yukon on snowshoe hares.
She started off with international activism and advocacy as a scientist and ship-based campaigner for
Greenpeace in Antarctica and then coordinator of the international IUCN Invasive Species Specialist
Group. Later she was New Zealand Head of Delegation at the Ramsar (Wetlands) Convention and
World Heritage Committee when working at the DOC International Team. Maj considers it a privilege
to have been able to see through the first kōkako translocations back into the Waitākere Ranges in
2009 as Ark in the Park Manager. She has also been Manager at the Rotokare Sanctuary in Taranaki,
and until recently was the Operations Manager for the Forest Bridge Trust in North Rodney. Her
interests include landscape based approaches, advocating for community driven conservation and
restoration, “translating” ecology and research into practical management, strategizing, and
developing partnerships and win-win-win situations. As a volunteer, she maintains advisory
involvement with Matuku Link, Friends of Okura Bush (North Shore) and The Forest Bridge Trust
(Rodney).