Hello, my name is Maikhou Thao.

I am thrilled to join the Everyday Impact Consulting team! Our founder, Elaine Abelaye-Mateo, has a compelling vision, grit, and community connection that has help create positive change in communities throughout California. I cannot wait to be part of a firm pushing to create innovative and thoughtful strategies. As the Administrative Assistant, I will be helping senior staff with a wide-variety of tasks on many of their projects.

My story begins when my parents came to the United States as Hmong refugees in the 1980s hoping to give their children a better future than they could ever give themselves. Growing up with a large family of thirteen in the small town of Oroville, California as a low-income and first-generation college student, these barriers and challenges motivated me to aspire towards changing the world and create a lasting impact for future generations.

Surrounding myself with the best mentors and support that I could ever ask for, while interning at the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2016 I became one step closer to achieving that dream and reality of creating tangible change in underrepresented and marginalized communities. After receiving my Bachelor’s degree in May of 2018 from California State University, Chico I was connected with the opportunity of working for Everyday Impact Consulting and took another chance to help build and strengthen communities. I am so happy to join the team in my role as the Administrative Assistant helping to coordinate opportunities alongside other empowering and inspiring individuals.

With so much to learn and room to grow, I feel blessed to continue the daily collaboration and expansion of the work that our Everyday Impact Consulting team engages in so that we can create lasting change and strengthen our voices in building a more diverse and accessible future for all.

- Maikhou Thao, Administrative Assistant