Maya Higa

Our animals would be able to reach millions and millions of people without having to meet a single one of them in person.

My mission is to use the internet to build our next generation of conservationists.

And I think it's working.

So my mission is to use the internet to build our next generation of conservationists.

And I have not been doing this for all that long.

OK, I was born in 1998, so I will get that out of the way right off the bat.

But I'll tell you guys how I got started.

So I grew up on a farm, and I always loved animals.

So we had rabbits and horses and chickens and you name it, we had it, and I loved it.

So then when I was 18 and in college, naturally, I got a job as a zookeeper.

So I'd put on the safari outfit, and I would bring animals like kangaroos and lemurs to schools and birthday parties to teach kids about wildlife.

It was a pretty cool job.

It was really awesome.

So then one night after work, I met some friends online who were livestreaming themselves playing video games on Twitch.

and I had no idea what that meant.

But I learned that I could broadcast myself live on this website doing whatever I wanted.

So I could cook or I could sing or I could play video games.

And if people enjoyed watching it, they would send me tips, so cash, like actual real money.

And as a college student, that's pretty freaking sweet.

So I started streaming to about 10 viewers at a time almost every day.