Of the three sisters, Mayara was not just the youngest. She was also the most agitated of the trio. She dragged (or tried to drag) Thais, the oldest, to shows, Carnival blocks, trips and all kinds of outings, especially those involving music, like Virada Cultural de São Paulo.
“She always had this young spirit. Even now, at 31, she did all of this very actively”, says her sister Thais Toni, 37. “She was involved in events, sports, she always had a great desire to live, since childhood.”
The young spirit, recalls Thais, was evident when her sister decided, in the first year of her life, to start walking towards the sea, in Bertioga, on the coast of São Paulo.
During her adolescence in the 2000s, Mayara’s taste for music and shows was boosted by the group Rebelde, which starred in a Mexican soap opera of the same name and exploded in Brazil in the middle of that decade.
She also dabbled in emo and rock, joining the ranks of fans of bands like NX Zero and the British quartet McFly.
When choosing a college, Mayara decided to study journalism and added her training to her natural gift of communication.
Her interest in political activism gained strength during this period, and the young woman became part of the Popular Committee of Ipiranga, a neighborhood in the south of São Paulo where she lived during her adult life and in which she was active. “She never abandoned the fight for social causes, to which she dedicated herself with an enormous sense of justice”, says her middle sister, Thaila Toni, 36.
Completing college at the age of 22 was followed by a career in the press office sector, working at Unifesp and then in the technology and health sectors, an area in which he specialized.
Taking advantage of her passion for music, Mayara wrote about concert programming and Korean culture on the Matraca Cultural website.
After the wave of the group Rebelde in Brazil, the style that won Mayara’s heart was K-pop. The South Korean genre inspired the name of the pet cat, Crystal, in reference to a song by the group BTS.
Born in Poá, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, in April 1992, the young woman admired the willpower of her mother, Vera Lúcia Teles, 62, who survived cancer.
Years later, Mayara also had to deal with lupus, an autoimmune disease diagnosed during her youth.
After the second heart surgery, Mayara died as a result of a hospital infection on February 23. She is survived by her parents, sisters and cat Crystal.
“She is still with us and will continue to be part of our lives”, said the friends of the activist committee in a statement.
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