Malaika Vaz is a National Geographic Explorer, TV presenter and wildlife filmmaker from

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She is the youngest person to reach the Artic and the Antarctic with

students on ice Students on Ice Foundation (also known as SOI) is a Canadian charitable organisation that leads educational expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic for international high school and university students. Its mandate is to provide youth, educators and ...

foundation. In 2018, she presented the TV series ''On The Brink'' for Discovery Channel and

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

, that follows her journey exploring the many endangered species across India together with the stories of researchers and scientists involved in protecting them. She is currently working on an investigative documentary on the illegal trafficking of

Manta Rays Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular pectoral fins, horn-sh ...

across

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. As a National Geographic Explorer Malaika produced and presented a 3 part series on human-wildlife coexistence titled ''Living With Predators'' that focuses on how local communities live alongside India's big cats.

Personal life

Malaika Vaz was born to Marusha Vaz and Mac Vaz, and has two younger brothers, Mikhail and Marc. As a competitive

windsurfer Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

, sailor and

Professional Association of Diving Instructors The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is a recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson. Cronin was originally a NAUI instructor who decided to form his ...

Divemaster A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory respo ...

, she has developed a strong connection to the ocean and has witnessed the effects of unsustainable tourism on the

Marine ecosystem Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the sur ...

. This inspired her to campaign for ecological protection and work towards conserving India's natural resources through initiatives such as the Leave No Trace campaign, that reduced

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

drastically at Asia's largest music festival

Sunburn Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that affects living tissue, such as skin, that results from an overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, usually from the Sun. Common symptoms in humans and animals include: red or reddish skin that is h ...

held at

Candolim Candolim is a census town in North Goa and is located in the Bardez taluka in the state of Goa, India. It is situated just south of Calangute Beach and North of Sinquerim. History During the late 16th century, Candolim became the first vill ...

, India. She is also an environmental activist who cares for India's big cats, some that are endangered.

Education

Malaika was educated at

Sharada Mandir School Sharada Mandir School is a private nursery to higher secondary co-educational school in Miramar, Panaji, Goa, India. It was established in 1966 and affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.The school follows the ...

, and then represented India, along with students from 92 other countries, at

UWC Mahindra College UWC Mahindra College (sometimes known as the ''Mahindra United World College of India'', or MUWCI) is a pre-university international boarding school, located west of Pune in Maharashtra, India. The college is a two-year programme with about 250 ...

, one of the 18

United World Colleges United World Colleges (UWC) is an international network of schools and educational programmes with the shared aim of "making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future." The organization was founde ...

spread out across the world.

Social work

Through her non-profit organization Kriyā ( meaning "deed" or "action" in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

), Malaika works to empower women; victims of

sexual violence Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, or act directed against a person's sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.World Health Organization., World re ...

and disadvantaged teenage girls through adventure sport and outdoor education. Under Malaika's guidance, the Kriyā Ambassadors summited Stok Kangri and Lungser Kangri in the

Indian Himalayas The Indian Himalayan Region (abbreviated to IHR) is the section of the Himalayas within the Republic of India, spanning seven Indian states and union territories, namely Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West ...

to raise money for the

Sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

communities in the Khumbu Valley who were devastated by the

April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 Mw or 8.1 Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extreme ...

Films

Awards

* 2018 National Youth Award winner *2016 State Youth Award, Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs,

Government of Goa The Government of Goa is a state government created by the Constitution of India and has executive, legislative and judicial authority of the state of Goa. It is headquartered in Panaji, the capital city of Goa. History The governor's role ...

for outstanding contribution in the field of social service. * 2016 National Geographic ROAR Talent bursary for Wildscreen Festival 2016 * 2015 Young Environmentalist by Saevus Magazine. * 2015 Brand Ambassador

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

http://ambassadors.woodlandworldwide.com/ambassadors-photogallery/malaika-vaz-72.html * 2012 Brand Ambassador

Victorinox Victorinox () is a knife manufacturer and watchmaker based in the town of Ibach, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. It is well known for its Swiss Army knives. The Swiss Army knives made by Victorinox are made of a proprietary blend ste ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaz, Malaika Indian explorers Living people People from North Goa district 1997 births Businesswomen from Goa People educated at a United World College