Profile: Maisha Wilder of Wilder Connection, Orlando, FL (Orange County)

Orlando, FL‑‑‑Maisha Wilder has a simple formula for success.

Like the rustic, simple Mason jars she lovingly collects, she cultivates compassion for others and responds to human needs.

Wilder, a dynamic, compassionate, and humble leader, has worked in education for more than fifteen years as a coach, college professor, and career counselor, as well as a high school and elementary school educator.

Her sensitivity and insight into forming meaningful connections with others has benefited many. She has launched multiple initiatives aimed at helping others.

Through years of working with students considered to be marginalized and at risk, Wilder developed empathy, flexibility, and skills in conflict management. Her work helped children and adults overcome obstacles.

Hearing those she helped tell her “Maisha, you listening to me, not judging my experience, and being patient with me has given me the ability to keep going” revealed “breakthrough moments that meant more than a paycheck, trophy on a desk, or followers on social media,” she says. “I value accomplishments that bring freedom of thought and help others “to shed weight of hesitance in productivity.”

Now, Wilder is using her compassion, experience, and insight to empower individuals and businesses to cultivate essential human skills and meaningful connections for personal and professional growth.

She recently founded Wilder Connections to provide strategies for educators, students, and small businesses to help them build stronger human connections within their teams.

Wilder’s new venture was born out of research and decades of experience. She saw how making connections with others improved team cohesion and increased productivity on projects and wanted to share this with others.

“I and others felt more compelled to come to work, because of the genuine connections made through building relationships beyond the surface,” she said. She also saw how time spent with coworkers often took time away from family and friends, making it even more important to nurture those relationships.

“We must carefully treat others with grace, patience, and human positive regard,” she says. “There are times when getting the work done becomes the goal, “and not what is sacrificed in getting the work done.”

Wilder’s empathy and compassion developed at an early age. She credits the time she spent working for her father in the funeral service business for more than twenty years.

“I have seen positive outcomes of being sensitive to human needs. The grief process and working with those who have lost their loved one, is what gave me the desire to delve deeper into being emotionally intelligent and aware of my soft skills towards others,” she says.

One of the experiences she is most proud of includes helping students transfer to community college. In 2020, Wilder launched a transfer initiative at a community college in Orlando, Florida after hearing about the struggles some students faced when planning to transfer to a university after the completion of their associate degree. To launch the program, she cultivated relationships with students, faculty, and college leaders, and soon the program sparked a 60% growth increase in attendance in one year.

“The launch meeting had 5 students in attendance and at the end of the same semester there were 25 students. The following semester, there were 40 students and growth continued,” she explains. “I attribute the growth to my ability to connect with students using authenticity and creativity. It was simple, I just started talking to them and listened to their needs. Simple, yet not often practiced by others.”

Wilder is currently developing presentations to take Wilder Connections to leaders in Central Florida and beyond. She seeks:

1. 1.Access to organizations with a mission of transforming individuals from inside out, and have it implemented in their workplace methods, where human skills are the priority, followed by academics and monetary accomplishment.
2. Ability to travel internationally, to research other countries’ approach to human skill building.
3. Learning other popular US languages – Spanish and/or French and sign language.

Something that might surprise others who know her? “Most people don’t know that I collect mason jars. I fell in love with mason jars after attending a wedding in Charleston, SC years ago. Since then, I collect them and use them for storage and décor! Oh yeah, I rarely drink out of the jars, weird right!”

To learn more, contact Maisha Wilder at maishawilder@gmail.com