Maya Higa | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||||||
Born | Maya Elaine Higa May 24, 1998 California, U.S. | ||||||
Education | California Polytechnic State University (BS) | ||||||
Occupations |
| ||||||
Website | |||||||
Twitch information | |||||||
Also known as |
| ||||||
Channel | |||||||
Location | Austin, Texas, U.S. [2] | ||||||
Years active |
| ||||||
Genres | |||||||
Followers | 796 thousand | ||||||
Associated acts | Alveus Sanctuary • QTCinderella | ||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
Channel | |||||||
Genres | |||||||
Subscribers | 867 thousand (main channel) 1.48 million (combined) [lower-alpha 1] [3] | ||||||
Total views | 110.03 million (main channel) 257.64 million (combined) [lower-alpha 2] [3] | ||||||
| |||||||
Last updated: April 5, 2024 |
Maya Elaine Higa (born May 24, 1998) is an American conservationist, falconer, [4] wildlife rehabilitator, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. She is the founder of Alveus Sanctuary, [5] a non-profit exotic animal sanctuary and virtual education center based in Austin, Texas. [6] She also co-hosts the Wine About It podcast with her friend, QTCinderella. [7]
Maya Elaine Higa [8] [2] was born to a Japanese-Okinawan father [9] and an American mother in Northern California [10] on May 24, 1998, [2] and grew up there on a farm as the youngest sibling with her parents, two brothers, and a sister. [11] [10]
She attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, graduating with a bachelor's degree in agricultural education and communication in June 2020. [12] [13] 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. [14]
Higa began streaming on Twitch in February 2019. Her streams consist of various activities such as music and falconry, along with spreading conservation awareness. [15] [16] Early in her streaming career, she saw significant growth after a falconry video with her juvenile red-tailed hawk named Bean went viral on Reddit. 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, she gained media attention from local news. [17] [18]
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. [19] The first episode of the podcast raised US$3,000 for the American Eagle Foundation. The podcast has also featured speakers from organizations such as Save the Rhino, the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. [20] Conservation Cast has raised more than US$92,000 with 63 episodes for wildlife protection organizations around the globe. [19] [14]
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. [14]
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. [1] 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. [21] 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. [1]
In February 2021, Higa officially joined the Make-a-Wish Foundation in Central and South Texas as a governing board member. [14]
On March 1, 2022, Higa was featured in the second annual World Woman Hour, a digital series presented by the World Woman Foundation dedicated to highlighting 60 inspirational stories of women from all walks of life. [22] [23] [24]
On March 12, 2022, Higa co-hosted the first Streamer Awards show with QTCinderella at The Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California. [25]
On March 30, 2022, Higa started Conservation Uncharted, a travel series of live streams focused on different aspects of wildlife conservation, with a whale-watching trip joined by Whale and Dolphin Conservation, raising over US$4,000 in under 2 hours. [26] [27] [28]
On September 19, 2022, Higa and Mizkif were accused by fellow Twitch streamer Trainwreckstv of downplaying and covering up an incident where fellow streamer CrazySlick allegedly sexually assaulted female streamer AdrianahLee. Higa released a public statement on Twitter via twitlonger apologizing for her involvement and stating that she did not cover up sexual assault and would take leave from streaming. [29] [30] [31] [32]
After a two-month hiatus, Higa returned to streaming in November 2022. Higa stated her intentions to stream less on her main channel and reorient efforts into producing educational conservation content for Alveus Sanctuary. [33] [34]
As of January 2023, Higa has raised over US$1,000,000 collectively from viewer donations using Twitch. [14] On January 21, 2023, Higa was announced as an ambassador for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. [35] [36] [37]
On April 4, 2023, Higa hosted Nerve Center presented by Ally , a Twitch-sponsored education show based around Alveus Sanctuary with several online creators, including Daily Dose of Internet, Lacari, Dareon, and Caroline Kwan. [38] [39] [40]
On October 1, 2023, Higa co-hosted The Gala for Good charity auction stream with QTCinderella. Over US$250,000 was raised for rainforest conservation at the event, with donations going to five non-profit environmental organizations, including Rainforest Alliance, World Wildlife Fund, Rainforest Foundation US, and Rainforest Trust. [41] [42]
In November 2021, Higa began to co-host the Wine About It podcast alongside her friend and fellow Twitch streamer, QTCinderella. [7] Wine About It went on hiatus in September 2022 after Higa announced her "indefinite" break from online content creation, a decision which stemmed from the backlash she received for her alleged involvement in covering up a sexual assault scandal. [43] [44] On March 11, 2023, the duo announced the return of the podcast alongside the launch of the Wine About It Patreon. [45] [46]
Higa currently resides in Austin, Texas, and lives in a custom-built 390-square-foot tiny house on site at Alveus Sanctuary. [2] [47] [48]
Between 2019 and 2021, Higa was in a relationship with fellow Twitch streamer Matthew Rinaudo (known by his online alias Mizkif). On September 14, 2021, Rinaudo announced on Twitter that he and Higa had ended their relationship. [49] [50] Since 2022, Higa has been in a relationship with someone outside of the online entertainment industry. [51]
In April 2023, Higa uploaded a video on YouTube titled "meet my pets" showcasing her collection of animals. At that time, Higa had 12 pets, including a kiger mustang horse named Acero, a weimaraner dog named Bella, and a chihuahua-pit bull mix dog named Maverick. [52]
Year | Title | Album | Details | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | "I" (with AtotheT) | Echos From The Suicidal Soldier |
| [53] [54] [55] |
2021 | "Shoot for the Stars" (with Mitch Jones) | Broken |
| [56] [57] [58] |
Michael Grzesiek, better known as Shroud, is a Canadian streamer, YouTuber, former professional Valorant player, and former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. As of April 2022, his Twitch channel has reached over 10 million followers, ranking as the eighth most-followed channel on the platform, and his YouTube channel has over 6.79 million subscribers.
Thomas Jefferson "Chance" Morris IV, known professionally as Sodapoppin, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He has one of the largest followings on Twitch, with over 8.7 million followers and over 398.3 million views as of August 15, 2022; he also has over 1.11 million subscribers and over 444.5 million views on YouTube. According to Social Blade, Morris sits at the number 10 spot for the most followers on Twitch; he also ranks number 15 for the largest total number of views on the platform. He is a co-owner of and content creator for gaming organization One True King.
Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, is a Moroccan-Canadian internet personality.
Jeremy Wang, better known as Disguised Toast, is a Taiwanese-Canadian streamer, YouTuber, and Internet personality. He got his start on YouTube, creating videos about the digital card game Hearthstone. Wang later began streaming on Twitch, before signing an exclusive streaming contract with Facebook Gaming in November 2019. In November 2021, Wang announced his return to streaming on Twitch.
Rachell Marie Hofstetter, better known as Valkyrae, is an American live streamer and YouTuber. She is a co-owner of the gaming organization 100 Thieves and has been YouTube's most-watched female streamer since 2020.
Ludwig Anders Ahgren, known mononymously as Ludwig, is an American live streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, comedian, esports commentator, and competitor. Ahgren is best known for his live streams on Twitch from 2018 through late 2021, and on YouTube beginning in late 2021, where he broadcasts video-game-related content as well as non-video-game-related content such as game shows and contests. He is also known for his work as an esports commentator at various Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments. He is the co-owner of the esports organization Moist Esports. He began streaming full-time on February 16, 2019.
Asmongold, also known as ZackRawrr, real name Zachariah Hoyt, is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and content creator. His content primarily focuses on World of Warcraft, but he has covered other video games and topics related to gaming culture. Asmongold is a co-founder and co-owner of the streaming, gaming, and content creation organization One True King (OTK), based in Austin, Texas. He is also a co-owner of Starforge Systems, a computer company specialized in selling prebuilt gaming PCs.
Hasan Doğan Piker, also known as HasanAbi, is a Turkish-American online streamer, YouTuber and left-wing political commentator. He has previously worked as a broadcast journalist and producer at The Young Turks and as a columnist at HuffPost. He is currently one of the most-viewed and most-subscribed-to streamers on Twitch, where he discusses politics, news, social issues, current events, plays a variety of video games, and discusses controversial topics, often from a socialist perspective.
Leslie Ann Fu, better known as fuslie, is an American live streamer, YouTuber and musician. She is a content creator for the gaming organization and lifestyle brand 100 Thieves.
Matthew Rinaudo, who is also known as Mizkif, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He is a founding member and co-owner of gaming organization One True King.
Charles Christopher White Jr., better known as Cr1TiKaL, MoistCr1TiKaL, or penguinz0 is an American YouTuber and streamer. He is best known for his commentary videos and live streams covering internet culture and video games. White's content is characterized by his monotone voice and deadpan comedic style. In addition, White is the co-founder and co-owner of the esports organization Moist Esports and co-founder and member of the musical duo, the Gentle Men.
AustinShow is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and media personality. He is known for hosting various talk and dating shows on Twitch, including Love or Host. He currently hosts his own show, In The Tub with Austin Show, as well as co-hosting the game show Name Your Price alongside Will Neff.
Emiru is an American Twitch streamer and cosplayer. She is primarily known for streaming League of Legends and her cosplays on her Twitch channel, where she has garnered more than 1,100,000 followers as of January 15, 2023. She is a co-owner of and a content creator for the gaming organization One True King.
The Streamer Awards is an annual awards show dedicated to live streamers. It was founded in 2022 by Twitch streamer QTCinderella to award and celebrate other streamers, primarily in the Twitch community. Nominees are selected via an online vote by fans and winners are then determined using a weighted combination of the online popular vote (70%) and panelist vote (30%).
Yoo Yoon-jin, known professionally as Jinnytty, is a South Korean online streamer. Jinny is best known for her IRL livestreams on Twitch where she has garnered more than 1,000,000 followers as of March 15th, 2024.
Brandon Ewing, known online as Atrioc, is an American live streamer, YouTuber and speedrunner known for his frequent collaborations with fellow streamer and ASU alumnus Ludwig Ahgren. He is known for his marketing-related series Marketing Monday, using his prior experience to give presentations within the marketing field to his audience. Ewing is also a former world record holder in speedrunning the video game series Hitman. He began streaming consistently at the beginning of 2020, and has over 315,000 followers as of May 2023.
Blaire, known online as QTCinderella, is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and podcaster. She is the creator and host of The Streamer Awards. She is also the co-hosts of the Wine About It podcast and the Fear& podcast.
On March 14, 2021, American livestreamer Ludwig Ahgren began continuously livestreaming on Twitch. The livestream ended on April 13, 2021, after 31 days. A subathon is a type of livestream in which viewer donations add more time to a descending timer that counts down to the end of the stream. Throughout the streams' duration, Ahgren received 282,191 subscriptions, breaking the previous record set in 2018 by Tyler "Ninja" Blevins of the most concurrent subscribers on Twitch. The subathon's content consisted of talking to his viewers and stream moderators, playing games, and sleeping, among other various daily activities. During Ahgren's sleep breaks his moderators entertained the audience, for which they were financially compensated. Ahgren grossed US$1,434,850 from the stream, before taxes, charity donations, and other deductions. Not including sponsorships, Ahgren profited $202,000.
Alveus Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that houses non-releasable exotic animals and provides online conservation education, primarily through 24/7 live-streamed content on Twitch.tv and produced content on YouTube. The name Alveus is borrowed from Latin alveus.
It's Japanese, my dad's Okinawan.
I grew up on a farm in Northern California and have loved animals my whole life.
For creators like MayaHiga, streaming is about more than just video games.
In a Twitlonger post, Mizkif and Maya Higa revealed that they have broken up, and will both be taking a break from streaming, in order to "process and to take care of ourselves."