![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Aiofa-Maki-Photo-by-Dave-Decker.png\")
Aiofa Maki at Dave Decker Photography in Ybor City, Florida on Jan. 12, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nAiofa Maki at Dave Decker Photography in Ybor City, Florida on Jan. 12, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay\u2019s spring arts issue features more than a dozen artists to watch this year and beyond. Meet Aiofa Maki<\/a>.<\/p>\n About her name: It\u2019s Irish (pronounced \u201cEE-fah\u201d). Maki is Finnish (from her dad\u2019s side).<\/p>\n Her first lead role (in first grade): \u201cThey made me be Mary. I didn\u2019t like it.\u201d But when she threw the baby Jesus doll away from her in a fit of pique, \u201cthey thought it was funny.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n St. Pete\u2019s magnet schools: From her studies at Perkins, John Hopkins and PCCA, she has grown into the realization that the arts can be a career. \u201cI can\u2019t think of anything else I\u2019d want to do. Everything\u2019s creativity to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She acts, she sings, she dances, she writes. What\u2019s her favorite? \u201cActing. When I think of getting a role, I think of getting to discover something about myself.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s coming up the rest of this year? On the day we spoke, she was planning to travel north for an audition at Boston Conservatory\u2014on the same day that a play she wrote and directed, \u201cA Pattern of Time,\u201d was to premiere at PCCA.<\/p>\n She\u2019s remarkably mature. \u201cNot only is she talented but she is focused, and brings a maturity to her work,\u201d says Helen French, who choreographed Aiofa in the PCCA theater department\u2019s \u201cAlice by Heart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Favorite role: Sandra, the mom in the musical \u201cBig Fish.\u201d According to one audience member who saw the show, \u201cShe is pure magic.\u201d<\/p>\n Her dreams for after college and beyond: \u201cTo be in the middle of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Jan. 29 \u2013 Feb. 04<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t