Mahana Putoa was born in 2002 on the island of Tahiti, in the commune of Papeete. She spent her first year in the commune of Pirae, before moving to the west coast of Tahiti to do her primary education in Mataiea, and her secondary education in Papara. 

In 2020, she obtained her scientific baccalaureate and then continued with a BTS in International Trade at the La Mennais high school in Papeete. Mahana was a panellist at the Pacific-Australia Youth Association’s webinar on ‘Youth Perspectives on Tahiti’. 

Attached to her island and its population and aware of the resources of the Pacific, she wishes to develop local production in Polynesia, to allow food self-sufficiency and limit any external food dependency. Mahana wishes to follow the example of her elders and inspire more people to do the same, i.e. to value local production.