Maya Nicole Davidov is a complex figure.

She finds comfort in talking to a crowd, yet fears asking people to take photographs of her. She is in the entertainment industry, yet hopes to not gain fame. She identifies as being laidback, yet holds multiple roles concurrently.

As it seems, Maya is a paradox.

Not an extrovert
With a mellow voice befitting the radio presenter, the 26-year-old exuded an alluring sense of confidence and friendliness. This shaped the atmosphere for the next hour and a half. There was seemingly no holding back in what she shared, leading one interviewer to guess that Maya was an extrovert.

“No, I’m like a massive introvert,” Maya asserted, and that may be an impediment to her work.

Maya currently hosts the evening drive-time show GET OUT on Mediacorp Radio 987 with radio presenters Gerald Koh and Kimberly Wang.

However, she had been sceptical about becoming a radio presenter. While she derives satisfaction from being able to influence others emotionally, it is not easy talking continually on air, especially on bad days.

“You have to really sound happy and positive all the time,” Maya said, and this is not the only trouble that she faces.

“In terms of events I get invited to, I get the most crippling anxiety,” Maya added. As a radio presenter, Maya needs to maintain her presence on social media platforms. However, she is too shy to approach strangers to take photographs of her when she is alone at events.

Moreover, Maya does not want fame. Despite being labelled a “female celeb” on Mediacorp’s website, she does not see herself as one. In fact, no one cares if she went out in her basketball shorts, Maya added, even though she is in the entertainment industry.

“I hope to never reach that status because it scares the living life out of me,” Maya said, referring to being a celebrity. It is stressful having to dress up and put on make-up all the time, she added. However, she is a radio personality after all.
Consequently, she is constantly put outside of her comfort zone.

Fortunately, just like the switches on a radio presenter’s console, Maya “can switch it on to become extroverted when she wants”. That was how she dealt with the stresses of being interviewed by 14 interviewers that day, Maya revealed.

A laidback hustle
“I'm quite laid back with how I think [about chasing passions],” Maya said. Her dream is to become a tai tai - a wealthy stay-home woman who has a lot of time to spare. But, Maya does not seem to have a lot of spare time.

Away from the radio waves, Maya is a pilates instructor at Vive Active at Tanglin and the owner of Made By Madre, a pearl jewellery atelier.

Maya’s fitness journey began when she was eight years old.

“I was a very fat child and I was very insecure about my body,” Maya revealed. Maya’s aunt was a fitness trainer and she trained with her till she was 15 years old.

From then, something that grew out of insecurities became a passion, and Maya continued to train on her own. After graduating from university, she became a fitness trainer at F45 Training before switching over to pilates. Despite holding a full-time job, Maya continues to train others twice a week, though she would have preferred to be able to do it daily

Maya is a business owner as well.

Made by Madre was founded by Maya and her mother during the pandemic. Inspired by a pearl company in Israel, Maya became keen on bringing the concept to Singapore. It was also a learning experience that she was seeking.

Maya had to take photos, run the Instagram page and design the website. That became overwhelming, Maya said, especially after she got a full-time job. With all of these commitments, it is not easy to see Maya as a tai tai.

Maya the paradox
To a casual observer, Maya may seem self-contradictory.

But, there is a simpler way to understand Maya. While her traits and beliefs clash, they point to something that Maya seeks - self-betterment

“I'm so competitive with myself,” Maya reflected. She wants to better herself and constantly learn new things, she added. She pushes herself out of her comfort zone to speak to others. She dares to take on challenges.

“I like to challenge myself that way,” Maya said as she recounted her experience skiing down a steep slope at a ski resort in Japan. As an amateur, she had given up earlier in the trip but decided to “smash that hill” days later.

So, while Maya is a paradox, it is not because she is self-contradictory. It is because she loves a good challenge and she is always on the lookout for learning opportunities.