She is one of the founding members of the Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Maillard has acting credits that include roles on Broadway (Eubie!, Comin' Uptown, Beehive); Off-Broadway (in several Negro Ensemble Company productions like Zooman and the Sign, and in New York Shakespeare Festival productions); television (For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf,[1] Hallelujah!
Much of her career has involved participating in works that are Afro-centric and steeped in African American orality, as well as uplift and support of Black culture[2] She is a founding member of the group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and has composed and arranged many of that group's songs.
[5][6] That group has been nominated for a Grammy multiple times, won a Grammy Award for their contribution to the Smithsonian Folkways A Vision Shared album, and have won multiple Washington Area Music Awards Wammies[7] Most of her solo compositions are published via 4 Jagelish Music.
[8] In addition to composing and performing with Sweet Honey in the Rock, she has also been a guest vocalist for other artists, including Horace Silver and Betty Buckley.