Toyoda is a research assistant in MDRC’s Postsecondary Education Policy Area. She is currently working on The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trial (THE-RCT) project and is passionate about centering equity and lived experiences in research.

Makoto is from Astoria, New York, and graduated from Binghamton University, State University of New York, with a bachelor of arts in sociology and political science in May 2022. During her time at Binghamton, Makoto was assistant editor of the arts and culture section of the campus newspaper and was active in intersectional feminist organizing. She also completed an undergraduate thesis studying the intersectional struggles of Asian-American women, which inspired her passion for qualitative research.