Meet Maio

she/they/siya

TRAINING FACILITATOR & PARTNERSHIPS COORDINATOR

she/they/siya

Maio Buenafe is a bilingual immigrant, genderqueer, multi-ethnic Indigenous Filipina who has lived most of her life between the ‘Philippines’ and ‘California’. She is a scholar, educator, researcher, mentor, facilitator, community organizer, food and cultural events experience curator, cultural strategist, and community consultant. They are the visionary, co-builder, and Oracle in Service of the Unlearning Community School which focuses on Liberatory Cultural and Political Education for Radical Transformation. With specializations in Indigenous knowledge systems and practices, international human rights and diversity, food and water sovereignty, Maio's teaching and research philosophy is centered on decolonization and indigeneity, intersectional social justice, and grassroots community movements focused on collective liberation. Their aim is to decolonize education and research by centering Indigenous knowledge systems and practices, and supporting youth leadership and development through intergenerational community-based mentorship.

What does Root to Bloom mean to you?

For me, Root to Bloom means Radical Transformation into your sacred purpose by honoring your divine self. The Root to Bloom (RTB) training program is one of the main reasons I chose the path of transforming myself and my life.  The RTB community space supported me with practices and tools to critically examine ways I was leading myself into burnout, and disrupting ways I have been conditioned by society to abandon myself in order to be deemed productive. Root to Bloom will only work if you are ready to choose a change in your life, which will require you to choose a change in yourself.  These intentional changes are a life-long healing process that can look like confronting your traumas and insecurities, unlearning and reframing what you were socialized to believe, radically imagining a different way to live, and deeply caring for yourself unapologetically. Root to Bloom reminds you that you have the power to go through this radical transformation in yourself, because it is how you will naturally grow into your sacred purpose.