Born and raised in Guåhan (Guam) Maria is Indigenous of CHamoru, Filipina (Bicolanx), and Mexican (Aztec) descent. As a mother of three, she inherited her matriarchs’ strong sense of responsibility, advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples. She is a former journalist and community organizer, tackling issues at the intersection of environmental justice and demilitarization. For more than a decade, she has organized on the frontlines of a resistance movement advocating for land and water protection against a massive mega-military buildup of a U.S. Marine Live Fire Training Range Complex over Litekyan in northern Guåhan, Maria’s sacred ancestral land.