Table of Biography
Maya Soetoro Ng is an Indonesian-born American specialist and writer. Maya Soetoro Ng is best known as the maternal half-sister of former US President Barack Obama.
Early Life
Maya Soetoro Ng was born in Saint Carolus Hospital, a Catholic hospital, in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the 15th of August 1970. Her full name is Maya Kasandra Soetoro-Ng and holds dual nationality of Indonesian-American.
Similarly, she belongs to a mixed ethnicity while her religious belief is unknown. According to the astrological chart, she has a zodiac sign of Leo and is currently 53 years old.
Caption: Maya Soetoro Ng with her parent and the maternal half-brother Barack Obama (Source: The New York Times)
In addition, she was born to Lolo Soetoro and Ann Dunham. Her father is an Indonesian businessman while her mother is an American cultural anthropologist.
Her parents divorced when Maya was just 10 years old and her father remarried. She has since spent time travelling with her mother and maternal half-brother Barack Obama. Moreover, she has two half-siblings; Yusuf Aji Soetoro, and, Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro from her father’s side.
Education
Her mother homeschooled her until she was 11 years old. She attended Jakarta International School from 1981 to 1984. Moreover, she subsequently relocated to Hawaii, where she attended Punahou School and graduated in 1988.
She received her BA in 1993 from Barnard College in Manhattan, New York. Moreover, she then earned an MA in secondary language studies from New York University, as well as an MA in Secondary Education from the same institution.
Additionally, she received her PhD in International Comparative Education from the University of Hawaii in 2006.
Professional Career
Initially, Maya Soetoro Ng is currently serving as a faculty specialist for the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, which is based in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, as well as a consultant for the Obama Foundation’s Leaders Program: Asia-Pacific.
Dr. Soetoro-Ng teaches courses on Peace Education; the History of Peace Movements; and Leadership for Social Change. She also supervises and manages the institute’s community and global service-learning programs for students majoring or minoring in Peace Studies.
Caption: Maya Soetoro-Ng a writer (Source: HuffPost)
She was an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Teacher Education at the University of Hawaii’s College of Education. Previously, she taught in The Learning Project, a public middle school in New York, from 1996 to 2000. Additionally, she worked as a high school history teacher in Honolulu. Later, she taught in Education Laboratory School and La Pietra: Hawaii School for Girls.
She assisted in the publishing of her mother’s dissertation, Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, in 2009. Moreover, she contributed a preface to the book and attended its introduction at the annual conference of the American Anthropological Association.
Co-founder of The Peace Studio and Obama presidential campaigns
Soetoro-Ng, Todd Shuster, and Jennifer Gates cofounded The Peace Studio in 2019, a non-profit organization whose aim is to fund, develop, and unify the next generation of artists, journalists, and storytellers to inspire people worldwide to become active peacebuilders. She is also a writer, having published a children’s book named “Ladder to the Moon.”
Soetoro-Ng announced that she would assist Obama in his campaign for presidency in May 2007, and took two months off to campaign for him. She talked briefly about growing up with her brother and brought an Asian-American presence to the platform during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
On September 4, 2012, she shared the podium with First Lady Michelle Obama’s older brother, former Oregon State University men’s basketball team head coach Craig Robinson, and spoke briefly about the Obama administration’s accomplishments at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Net Worth 2023
Being a specialist and writer, she has earned a decent sum of money and lives a decent lifestyle. However, the exact figure or number regarding her net worth, salary, and income are unknown at the moment.
Relationship Status
Maya Soetoro-Ng married to Konrad Ng in 2003. Her husband is the executive director of the Doris Duke Shangri La Center for Islamic Arts and Culture in Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii. With the marriage, the couple has two daughters named Suhaila and Savita.
Caption: Maya Soetoro Ng with her husband and their daughter (Source: WWD)
As of now, there are no major rumours about her personal or professional life. Furthermore, she has never been involved in any scandal in her career to date.
Maya Soetoro Ng – Body Measurements
Caption: Maya Soetoro-Ng talking in a program (Source: Asia Society)
Looking at her appearance, she has a pair of dark brown eyes with black hair colour. She has not disclosed much about her body measurements such as height, weight, and other body measurements.
Social Media
Presently, this American specialist and writer is not active on any kinds of social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.