Mao is Sara's younger sister. Unlike her sister she is cheerful and outgoing, longing to see the outside world. Mao has a very obvious crush on Shin.
In the 2008 series Macross Frontier, a version of the Macross Zero story is reproduced as a movie, in which Mao Nome is played by the character Ranka Lee. Ranka's adoptive brother Ozma is also shown reacting on his sister playing "Doctor Mao" as something "bound by fate".
She is Sheryl Nome's grandmother and Sally Nome's mother.