Maya Higa

About

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 exotic animal 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.

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…