Makota Valdina Oliveira Pinto (1943-2019) was a ritual elder in the Afro-Brazilian religion, Candomblé. She was also an educator, a community organizer and an internationally recognized environmental justice and human rights activist. Makota Valdina was a founding member of the St. Bartholomew Environmental Education Center — where she directed a project to link Afro-Brazilian ritual and medicinal plant knowledge with environmental preservation and grassroots citizenship education. Before she transitioned, she was the Makota Ngunzu of the Nzo Oniboyá Candomble community in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Makota Valdina participated in the fourth biennial Consultation of African and African Diasporan Women in Religion and Theology (Salvador da Bahia, Brazil).
Local Brazilian news of her transition was covered by Correio 24 Horas.