Maya Higa

Biography

Maya Elaine Higa (born May 24, 1998) is an American conservationist, wildlife educator, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. She is the founder of Alveus Sanctuary, a non-profit wildlife sanctuary and virtual education center based in Austin, Texas. Higa started streaming on Twitch in 2019 and gained popularity for her content related to animals, conservation, and education. She has been recognized for integrating livestreaming with wildlife conservation and educational outreach. In 2021, she held a 21-hour charity stream that raised over $500,000 to establish her non-profit exotic animal sanctuary and virtual education center, Alveus Sanctuary. Through her livestreams, Higa had raised more than US$7.5 million for conservation causes by 2026. In 2025, she won the League of Their Own award at the 2025 Streamer Awards, and in 2026 she became the first Twitch streamer to deliver a TED Talk at TED2026. As of May 2026, she has over one million followers on Twitch and 1.16 million subscribers on YouTube.

== Early life and education ==

Maya Elaine Higa was born to a Japanese-Okinawan father and an American mother in Northern California on May 24, 1998, and grew up there on a farm as the youngest sibling with her parents, two brothers, and a sister. She attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, graduating with a bachelor's degree in agricultural education and communication in June 2020. During her time at college, she worked for Zoo to You Conservation Ambassadors, Charles Paddock Zoo, and Free Flight Exotic Bird Sanctuary as an intern, doing outreach education and exotic animal husbandry.

== Career ==

=== 2019–2020: Early streaming career and initial popularity === Higa began streaming on Twitch in February 2019, after her streamer friends encouraged her to do so after they saw a clip of her singing on her Instagram. She originally started streaming in the music category on Twitch and did mainly singing content. She said that the reason she started doing singing streams was because she wanted to get more comfortable singing in front of people. Early in her streaming career, she saw significant growth after a falconry livestream clip with her juvenile red-tailed hawk named Bean went viral on Reddit around April 2019. In May 2019, she gained media attention from local news after she celebrated her 21st birthday by holding a charity stream for the 5 Cities Homeless Coalition, a local homeless coalition that she previously volunteered for. As her fame grew, her streams evolved to encompass a wider range of activities other than music, such as falconry, along with spreading conservation awareness.

In July 2019, Higa started the Conservation Cast, a podcast where viewers learn about animals and gather information from experts such as conservationists, wildlife enthusiasts, and scientific communicators. The podcast has also featured speakers from organizations such as the American Eagle Foundation, Save the Rhino, the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The podcast has raised more than US$92,000 with 63 episodes for wildlife protection organizations around the globe. Higa created her YouTube channel, Maya, on August 8, 2019. At the beginning, she mostly uploaded her Twitch livestream highlights, such as her IRL streams and vlog content. In October 2020, Higa became a part of the board of directors for a wildlife rehabilitation center in Central Texas. Her role focuses on raptor rehabilitation and husbandry.

=== 2021–2022: Founding of Alveus Sanctuary and hiatus ===

In 2021, Bloomberg described Higa as part of a growing wave of female Twitch streamers gaining prominence through non-gaming and personality-driven livestream content. On February 10, 2021, Higa held a 21-hour charity stream for her newly founded non-profit exotic animal sanctuary and virtual education center known as Alveus Sanctuary. The stream was highlighted by an auction that sold off items such as a golden shovel owned by Sodapoppin, Gucci loafers owned by T-Pain, and a signed jersey from xQc. The most expensive item auctioned off was a 1-hour gaming session with streamer and former professional CS:GO player Shroud, purchased by fellow streamer Ludwig Ahgren for US$53,000. Shortly after reaching her goal of US$500,000, Higa shaved her head, fulfilling a promise she made a few weeks prior. All together, she raised US$573,000. On the same month, Higa officially joined the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Central and South Texas as a governing board member.