Maya Soetoro-Ng

Maya Kasandra Soetoro-Ng is an Indonesian-American academic, educator, and author who has dedicated her career to the fields of peace and conflict resolution. Born on August 15, 1970, in Jakarta, Indonesia, she is the daughter of American anthropologist Ann Dunham and Indonesian businessman Lolo Soetoro. She is also the maternal half-sister of former United States President Barack Obama, a relationship that has often been noted in discussions of her life and work.

Education and Early Life

Soetoro-Ng's early life was shaped by her parents' careers and her experiences in both Indonesia and Hawaii. She was home-schooled by her mother in Indonesia and later attended the Jakarta International School before returning to Hawaii to complete her secondary education at Punahou School. Her academic journey continued with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College of Columbia University, followed by two Master of Arts degrees from New York University in secondary language studies and secondary education. In 2006, she earned a Ph.D. in international comparative education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Career and Contributions

Currently, Maya Soetoro-Ng serves as a faculty specialist at the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her work there involves teaching courses on peace education and leadership for social change, as well as coordinating service-learning programs. She is also a consultant for the Obama Foundation, contributing to the development of its Asia-Pacific Leaders Program. Previously, she worked as a high school history teacher and in curriculum development at various educational institutions.

Soetoro-Ng is an author, with her children's book "Ladder to the Moon" published in 2011. She has also contributed to and helped bring her mother's dissertation to publication. In 2019, she co-founded The Peace Studio, a non-profit organization dedicated to training and supporting a new generation of artists, journalists, and storytellers in peacebuilding.

Her research has focused on multicultural and international education, particularly examining the use of narrative to foster complex understandings of identity and promoting the learning of social studies from multiple perspectives. Alongside her work in education and peacebuilding, she has also co-founded the non-profit Ceeds of Peace and the Institute for Climate and Peace.

Personal Life

Maya Soetoro-Ng married Konrad Ng in 2003, and they have two daughters. She has described herself as "philosophically Buddhist" and is fluent in Indonesian, Spanish, and English.