Maja Griffin A'17

Photo of Maja Griffin

Maja Coleman Griffin A'17 was born to Shawn and Mia Griffin at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland on December 29, 1995. She departed this life on September 26, 2023.

Maja attended school in Baltimore and began to cement her love for the arts when she attended Baltimore School for the Arts in 2009. After graduating, she attended The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York in 2013. During her time at Cooper Union, she strengthened her skills as an artist and also traveled abroad to study in Japan. Maja went on to graduate and received the Toni and David Yarnell Merit Award of Excellence in Art, which is presented to graduating students who demonstrate exceptional ability and outstanding merit in 2017.

Maja was not only a talented artist. She was one of Baltimore's best bartenders who worked at places like The Charleston, Hotel Revival, Hotel Ulysses's Blooms, Cookhouse, and many more. She also held roles like head bartender and bar programmer for popular locations like Mera Kitchen Collective and Alma Cocina. When leading at Alma, Maja's crafted cocktails used rare ingredients from the Amazon that helped land the restaurant a Forbes feature.

Maja's Forbes quote says, "The more I started to look into specific cultural drinks, I kind of wanted to blend these ingredients into every little thing that I tried to do, taking the ingredients from these amazing communities in the Amazon rainforest, trying to put these cultures together through certain flavor profiles,". Everyone who knows Maja understands this was how she approached her work. It was always with intent, understanding, and passion that helped her bring very different ideas into a result that was always beautiful.

Maja has too many accomplishments to list, but her biggest accomplishment was how easily she could bring people together and help them feel a part of her life, love, and community. Maja was a true giver. She would always give love, laughter, celebrations, and selflessly her time to someone in need. Anyone who is asked about Maja would tell you how much they love her and how she loved unconditionally. The impact that Maja has had on anyone she has met is indescribable. She will truly be missed.

Maja leaves to cherish her memory: Her loving parents, Mia and Shawn Griffin. Her three brothers Shawn, Adrian, and Cristian Griffin. Her nephew, Phthalo Griffin. Her grandmother, Ophelia Griffin, and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Friends that Maja considered and loved as family.

Services are being organized by and will be held at:

The Derrick C. Jones Funeral Home P.A.
4611 Park Heights Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21215:

Wednesday October 4, 2023: Viewing from 3pm-6pm
Thursday October 5, 2023: Wake at 10:00am directly followed by Celebration of Life at 10:30am

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.