Maho is a girl of average height with fair skin. She has long, dirty blonde hair that she usually has tied up in some way. She is very picky about her hair, always having it look neat and styled if she can. She has violet eyes. She has glasses, but she doesn't like to be seen with them, so she normally wears contacts. She has been noted to be very pretty. She is very expressive, and it is not difficult to tell what she is feeling. She can often be seen with a confident smirk on her face.

She can often be seen wearing her school uniform, which consists of a white dress shirt, a gray blazer, a blue striped bow, a black skirt, and black thigh-high socks. She always wears shorts under her skirt, a habit she picked up from Kaede. While playing for Fukurōdani, she wore a white, black, and yellow uniform with the number 11. During games, she wears black knee pads. She wears special supportive volleyball shoes that are black with white accents. Her casual clothes often consist of stylish and trendy clothes with a feminine style. She is known for her good fashion sense.

Maho is known for her dramatic personality. Everything she does, she does with a theatrical flair. She doesn't get embarrassed easily. She acts very dignified and prideful, which can make her come across as arrogant. Because of her pride, she is very stubborn. She can act a bit spoiled, as she is used to getting what she wants. She is a good leader because of her natural charisma, which allows her to appeal to people's emotions and draw people in, but she can also be a bit bossy and controlling. This aspect of her personality can often get on people's nerves. She has a very strategic mind, and she is quick-witted. She is very concerned about what other people think of her, and she is obsessed with seeming perfect. This is why she hates for anyone to see her with messy hair or with her glasses. She hides any weakness, especially when it has to do with her injury.

She is naturally talented at many things, especially volleyball. She was regarded as a prodigy as she grew up, but she wasn't satisfied with that. She wanted to be the best at what she did, so she worked very hard and practiced extensively. She is always determined to win, and she hates losing. When in games, her confidence and borderline arrogance is infuriating to her opponents. She is very confident in herself, so she is normally able to shake off small failures. However, she takes larger failures very hard, often blaming herself and getting frustrated.

Maho grew up in the Miyagi prefecture. She was very close to her brother, Shōtarō, and she always followed him around and wanted to do whatever he did. When he began playing volleyball, she did too. She attended the same elementary school as Akita Midori. The two girls were good friends and used to play volleyball together. Right before their first year of junior high, Maho moved to Tokyo due to her family's flower shop being relocated. There, Maho attended Keisetsu Junior High, where she received intensive training on how to be a setter. While on Keisetsu's volleyball team, she met Isobe Kaede, who was only on the team for a year before graduating.

During her second year of junior high, Maho was the starting setter for Keisetsu's team. During this year, she began to experience pain and tingling sensations in her feet. With a tournament approaching, she thought she had no time to be injured. She didn't tell anyone about her injury, and she played anyways. During the last set of the championship game, she lost feeling in her feet and collapsed. She was unable to play for the rest of the match, and she was taken to a doctor. She was told that due to overworking herself and enduring several rough landings, she sustained nerve damage in her feet. She was not allowed to play for a month. Even after that month, she had to slowly build back up to playing in games. By her third year, she was back to playing in games, and she was made the captain.

Maho graduated from Keisetsu and enrolled for high school at Fukurōdani Academy, where her brother attended. She immediately joined the volleyball club. As a first-year, she was made the team's starting setter. She still experiences nerve pain in her feet, and she occasionally experiences tingling and numbness. She refuses to let it keep her from playing, and she rarely tells anyone about this pain. By her second year, she was the vice captain of the team, and in her third year, she was made the captain. In her third year, her team faced Niiyama Jōshi (Midori's team) in the finals of the spring tournament, narrowly losing in the last set. After losing, she told Midori that if she had her as one of her spikers, she would be unstoppable.

After high school, she moved in with Akaashi. She tried out for the V.League Division 1 team, the Hatsumichi Springs, becoming the starting setter shortly after joining. Maho and Midori were a powerful combination, and the way they seemed to be able to communicate without speaking led to them becoming known as the "witch and her familiar" (魔女と使い魔 Majo to tsukaima).

• Her favorite food is poppyseed bread with honey.
• Current concern (2012): The special volleyball shoes she had to get didn't come in any cute colors.
• Current concern (2018): Her apartment doesn't have enough space for all the flowers she wants.
• Her star sign is Leo.
• Her worst subject is history, and her best subject is English.
• Shiraishi (白石) means "white stone," and Maho (真帆) means "full sail."
• Her doctor told her she has to wear a certain kind of volleyball shoe to give her feet enough cushioning and adequate space.
• Because of her injury, her feet will occasionally tingle and sometimes even go numb. Her feet sometimes hurt after or during physical activity. She is told that if she keeps working herself as hard as she does, she'll develop peripheral neuropathy later in life.
• Because of her dramatic nature, she has a habit of exaggerating when she tells stories. Shōtarō often makes fun of her for this.
• Her favorite flowers are plumerias, and her parents always have plumerias for her at their flower shop.
• When she was little, she used to say she wanted to marry Shōtarō. He often brings this up to embarrass her.
• Her nickname, Witch (魔女 Majo), is a pun on her name. Majo is only one syllable off from her name.
• She picked up her origami hobby from Shōtarō, and they often sit and make origami together.
• She tends to use gardening analogies that very few people understand.
• Most people who also know Shōtarō call her Shira and her brother Shiraishi in order to avoid confusion.