Giving back to her community was always an important part of Maja Saletto’s life, but after her daughter became trapped in a deeply abusive relationship in her teen years — a situation that pushed her to a very dark and dangerous place — Maja knew she had to use that experience to help support more women in need.
“There is no doubt in my mind that if [my daughter] didn’t have me to support her, things could have ended very differently,” says Maja. “I was going to turn the Earth upside down to protect her. But how many women don’t have that support? So many women struggle silently with no way out.”
Supporting her daughter through that period changed the way Maja understood gender-based violence. She realized she wanted to use both her lived experience and her professional skills to help other women find safety.
This desire to support women is also shaped by her own experience of starting over. 30 years ago, Maja immigrated to Canada from Croatia after the end of the Croatian War of Independence, arriving well educated but forced to navigate an entirely new system to rebuild her career. That journey taught her resilience and empathy — qualities she brings to her work on the Nellie’s board.
Working with Nellie’s is actually a full circle moment for Maja. After completing her PhD, Maja landed a job at the Ontario Trillium Foundation, working with non-profits and communities as a grant officer, and eventually climbing the corporate ladder to becoming a director responsible for designing granting programs. In those early days, one of the very first grant applicants she worked with was Nellie’s.
“They were still at their old location, and I remember doing a site visit there. I was so new to this work and the non-profit world,” Maja recalls. “I met some of the residents, and I remember how absolutely moved I was. They made such an impact on me.”
Beyond her work with Nellie’s, Maja is currently the Director of Community Investments at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and volunteers as a Youth Restorative Justice mediator. Her professional life has been rooted in strengthening communities and creating fairer systems, and she sees her involvement with Nellie’s as an extension of that commitment.
To supporters of Nellie’s, Maja emphasizes just how essential their contributions are. “Supporting Nellie’s isn’t just about changing but saving the lives of women and their children,” Maja explains. “Too many women suffer from intimate partner violence silently.”