Hi Carla,
It was quick :-)
My grandma's surname was Maya (as written in Turkish) which may be Maia as you wrote. I am looking for people in the Jewish community.
Other possibility is to look for Behar (in Turkish pronounced Bejar) surname which is my grandfather's surname. I am not very sure which exact surname to check as I am using the stories told to my mother 50 years ago. I tried once to check the web with these names but was not successful. I even try to check any Brasilian Major with surname Maya. In short, I am looking for any Brasilian jews who immigrated from Istanbul during the 1900's (beginning of) with surname Maya (or also Behar).