About Maja
Maja Kazazic
Life Unlimited™
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Growing up in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 70’s and 80’s was idyllic for Maja. Passionate about being the best soccer player in her town of Mostar, she loved school and excelled as a result. Her parents and younger brother, along with her big extended family, were close and enjoyed long, languid summers at the Adriatic Sea. Life changed very quickly when war came to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 90’s.
Maja was injured during this time by a mortar strike in front of her apartment building. She was taken to a makeshift hospital in the basement of city’s laboratory. She shared the basement room with six other severely injured people. With no drugs, no equipment, inadequate staff and ongoing shelling of the city, recovery was difficult, at best. Despite her life-threatening injuries, Maja maintained a positive outlook and added to the reputation of that recovery room as “The Happy Place”.
Close to death, 3 weeks after being injured and after losing her left leg as a result of her injury, Maja had the opportunity to evacuate, but without her parents or brother. Maja had 20 minutes to decide if she would evacuate. The decision was made and Maja found herself in Croatia, then Germany and ultimately in Cumberland, Maryland in September, 1993. She had no time to say “good-bye” to her family, and she left Mostar with only a t-shirt.
Confined to her hospital bed, Maja watched T.V. constantly, even though she knew no English. After six months, she found that not only could she understand the dialogue, she could speak it! She quickly became fluent in English. Throughout the next two years spent in the hospital undergoing hundreds of surgeries, Maja’s steely determination took hold. She refused to let her injuries and disabilities define her and she never succumbed to the “Why Me?” despair.
Anxious to continue her education, she enrolled in Allegany High School as a part time student, even though she had to attend classes in a wheelchair with an I.V. hook up. Once she was able to walk again with the aid of a prosthetic and an orthotic, she set her sights on joining the school’s marching band. Through long practices, parades and football games, Maja kept up with the other band members as an enthusiastic member of the pit and received an award for “Outstanding Service and Love of Life”.
Although she was busy and involved with reinventing her new life, not having her parents and brother with her left a gap in her happiness. She set her sights on getting them out of Bosnia and bringing them to Maryland. Hundreds of hours of work and research, reams of correspondence and dozens of phone calls finally led to a trip to the Baltimore Washington International airport in 1995 to see her parents and brother for the first time in two years.
The reunited family set up home and tried to find their place in the United States. Her brother enrolled in the same high school. Her parents found work, bought cars, and began to learn English. Gradually, more members of their extended family joined them in Cumberland, and life went on.
Before her injury, Maja wanted to become a physical education teacher. Now, she reset her goal to obtaining a psychology degree. The major obstacle to reaching this goal was the cost of tuition and books. Undeterred as always, Maja worked several jobs to put herself through college. She graduated in 2000 with that degree.
Now living in Palm Harbor, Florida, Maja brings that same tenacity and determination to her running her own company, Vela Business Solutions. She is still an incredible athlete, playing tennis and golf whenever possible. She took up windsurfing last year, and enjoys the wind in her hair and the speed of the board as it skips over the water. Maja embodies the concept of Life Unlimited™ and fully intends to continue to take on new challenges and realize new goals.
If you need a keynote speaker at your event please send email to: Speaker@MajaKazazic.com.
Meet Maja Kazazic
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