Maja Ciganovic is president and co-founder of the Center for the Affirmation of Women in Sport (CAŽS), a non-profit gender-equality organization in Serbia, and creator and coordinator of the online Zdravo Buduća Sportistkinjo (“Hello Future Sportswoman”) campaign. She seeks to bridge the gender equality gap in Serbian sports by showing how women are making a positive difference in the sports world. 

While Maja played many sports growing up, it was in sixth grade when her family settled in Novi Sad that she began playing basketball. After a successful career on the court, including a Serbian championship with her juniors team, Maja seamlessly transitioned into a life of activism. She spent more than a decade in various leadership roles for Vojvodina Women’s Basketball Club, the Novi Sad Gender Equality Commission and City Assembly, and the Vojvodina Regional Institute of Sport and Sports Medicine. In 2015, Maja co-founded CAŽS, the first Serbian non-profit organization specializing in gender equality in sport. The organization’s mission is to promote and encourage women’s participation in all aspects of the Serbian sports system—across disciplines and positions—regardless of age, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.