[2][4] Maeva-Taripo served as the president of the Cook Islands Association of Non-Government Organisations (CIANGO), often pressing local government to consider environmental issues.
[16][17][18]:71 In 2001, Maeva-Taripo sold one of her tivaevae, which had won the highest honors at the National Council of Women's annual conference the previous year, to the Rarotongan Beach Resort and Spa for $10,000 (in New Zealand dollars), which was an unprecedented sum to be paid to a quilter.
She positioned tivaevae as central to her identity as a woman from the Cook Islands, with the communal labor serving as a place for socializing, networking, and expression.
It will be a great loss to our culture if we don't wake up now and try and save this unique and priceless gift of wisdom from of grandmothers, our mothers and the Almighty.
[27] In 2010, Maeva-Taripo served as the leader of the Cook Islands Music Association, which was part of UNESCO meetings on intangible cultural heritage.