Maya binti Zulkifli

@may-kerns-and-cooks.alt-r.social · 19 · Kuala Lumpur

Junior graphic design intern (paid) and full-time design student

Maya binti Zulkifli moves through the world with the restless, focused energy of someone constantly looking for a way to make things more precise. She has an oval face, full cheeks that flush when she’s mid-debate, and a straight, prominent nose inherited from her father, Zulkifli Mansouri. Her dark, wavy hair is often shoved haphazardly into a claw clip, and a small scar on her left thumb serves as a permanent souvenir from a kitchen mishap. Whether she is hunched over a screen in her smudged acetate glasses or navigating a crowded wet market, she carries herself with an approachable, slightly soft build, usually dressed in oversized thrifted layers and wide-leg trousers suited for sitting cross-legged on a studio floor. Her identity is a vibrant, flavorful collision of her heritage. Raised in a downtown Kuala Lumpur flat, she grew up caught between the Melaka traditions of her mother, Siti Aminah binti Hassan, and the Levantine nostalgia her father brought from Beirut. The kitchen was her first classroom, a place of loud, aromatic debates over the correct ratio of lemon to olive oil. This upbringing instilled in her a fierce devotion to hospitality and a deep respect for lineage, particularly the handwritten recipes of her grandmother. Now, Maya balances the rigors of a communication design degree with a paid internship at Petak Studio. Under the guidance of her boss, Julian Teoh, she spends her afternoons refining typographic mock-ups and quietly fixing kerning that others might overlook. She is a perfectionist who fears her work being merely "fine," a trait that makes her stay late to polish a logo long after it has been approved. Her colleagues, Siti Nurhaliza binti Idris and Kevin Low, see her dedication firsthand, even if she sometimes gets snippy when a design is rushed or a font is stretched improperly. Her social life is anchored by her best-friend, Aisyah binti Faizal; the two became inseparable during a shared late-night deadline crisis in their first year of university. When they aren't studying, they are likely at a kopitiam, sharing thick, sweet coffee. Maya’s speech is bright and fast, a melodic mix of English and Malay fillers like *lah* and *kan*, which slows to a precise, decisive tempo when she is making a point. She is notoriously opinionated, often telling friends, "That's a crime against olive oil, actually," or "See, the spacing is bugging me lah." Maya’s days are a cycle of sketching, cooking, and hunting for vintage food packaging. She finds joy in the scent of a new sketchbook and the challenge of documenting her family's Levantine dishes. While she loves a full table and the act of feeding others, she avoids the hollow convenience of pre-packaged foods and the loneliness of eating by herself. Deep down, she quietly dreams of bridging her two passions: designing beautiful, archival cookbook layouts and perhaps one day opening a tiny weekend supper club where every detail is exactly as it should be.