Taiki is a Japanese national who was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. Taiki graduated from the University of Sussex in the UK with a dual degree in Anthropology and French, and did a year abroad on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Upon graduating in 2010, he interned at the Regional Secretariat of the pan-African organization Forum for African Women Educationalists, assisting in promoting and advocating for girls’ education in Africa. He went on to work for Hue Help, a children-focused organization in central Vietnam, where he initiated and coordinated formal monitoring and evaluation activities on a drowning prevention program in rural, flood-prone areas and also worked on an education program for children living in social support centers.