Co-Vice President

Mariko joined OAANY in 2021 and began serving as an OAANY officer in 2024. Mariko is a proud mixed-race Ryukyan-American who is deeply interested in intersections of Indigenous identity, cultural reclamation, decolonization, and revitalization. She is a child born of a US military father and an Okinawan mother, and grew up stationed mostly on the East Coast of the US, and Okinawa for 3 years, before settling in Vermont where she resides currently. She is an interspiritual practitioner of earth-based spirituality, practicing hand-poke hajichaa, and co-founder of the Ichariba Choodee: Okinawan Voices & Stories Podcast.

https://www.marikomiddleton.com/