MEET THE 2024-26 NDN CHANGEMAKERS

Amy Stiffarm

Amy Stiffarm, PhD, MPH, is a member of the Aaniiih Nation and also descends from the Chippewa-Cree and Blackfeet Tribes of Montana. She is a recent graduate of the Indigenous Health PhD Program at the University of North Dakota where she studied Perinatal Mental Health and Indigenous Women/Birthing People. Amy’s work focuses on the integration of Traditional Knowledge and cultural practices during the prenatal, birth, and postpartum periods to improve maternal and infant health for Indigenous populations.

Ayyu Qassataq

A proud mother of four, Ayyu has worked for Indigenous peoples and imperatives throughout her life. Current endeavors include co-founding Gínga and Igniñ Collective, serving as the Vice President of Native Conservancy, and establishing Qulliq Munaqtuġuut to support the wellbeing and self-determination of Alaska Native and Indigenous Peoples.

Brook Thompson

Brook is Yurok and Karuk from Northern California. She is a third year PhD student at UC Santa Cruz in Environmental Studies. In 2022, Brook received her Master’s in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, focusing on water resources and hydrology. In 2020, She graduated from Portland State University’s Honors College with a degree in Civil Engineering and a minor in Political Science. Currently, Brook works part-time as a Restoration Engineer for the Yurok Tribe. Her goal is to bring together water rights and Native American knowledge through engineering, public policy, and social action. 

Diana Ooleepeeka Neill-Anawak

Diana is a proud Inuk from the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut. Diana is a registered Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) and started her private practice in 2022, traveling to communities across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to offer Speech and Language Therapy. In an effort to reclaim her language and support culture in her community, Diana is on a journey to decolonize and Indigenize her practice, in order to protect, promote and support Inuktitut speakers who seek Speech and Language Therapy. Her vision is to develop the assessment and therapy tools for her profession to formally recognize Inuktitut as a language within the Health and Education systems.

Elvia Villani Catalan

Elvia is a Me’phaa woman from the state of Guerrero, Mexico. She was born and raised in a beautiful town full of traditions. She studied Agronomy at the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, where she had the opportunity to reinforced her feeling of returning to her community. She has specialized in the production of coffee in mountain systems with indigenous brothers and worked with various peoples always taking care of their territory and Mother Earth.

She is currently a spokesperson for the collective Guardians of edible forests Cafetaleros where they seek to preserve forests that are currently extremely affected by the climate crisis.

Guadalupe Tzopitl Montalvo

Guadalupe likes to write poetry in her mother tongue Nawatl, plant trees, seeds, flowers, roots, loves nature, and translates plant and place names that are usually written in Spanish to Nawatl. She founded the collective Tokalihtik / Our Home, which seeks to dignify and resignify traditional knowledge, through collective action from the Nawa territory to counteract systemic and structural violence. She was the winner of the First Place in the “Decolonize Your Food” contest in 2023. That launched the Slow Food network of Indigenous Peoples of Mexico and emphasized the value of traditional knowledge as Nawa indigenous peoples.

Ivy Richardson

As the founder and Executive Director of Red Girl Rising Movement Society, Ivy Richardson has been a catalyst for positive change through her commitment to creating safe and empowering initiatives that embody “movement as medicine.” She spearheads Team 700, BC’s first Indigenous youth boxing team, Wina Wellness, and chairs Boxing BC’s Indigenous committee to increase Indigenous representation at all levels of the sport. More recently, Ivy became the co-owner of Nanaimo Amateur Boxing Association. Her work empowers communities to embrace their inherent strengths and gifts, fostering spaces rooted in the principle of “living every day like a ceremony” for personal and collective wellness.

Kwahará:ni Jacobs

Kwahará:ni Jacobs is a 26 year old mother from Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory. While raising her daughter fully in Kanien’kéha, she also works as the head teacher of Otsi’náhkwakon, an intensive two year Kanien’kéha immersion program, designed for parents to be able to study alongside their children. In her downtime, Kwahará:ni helps with ceremonial practices, learning traditional methods of gardening, medicine collecting, and traditional crafting.

Octavio Domínguez Rosas

Octavio was born in the Nahua Indigenous community of Los Puentes, municipality of Huautla (Kwauhtla) in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. He moved to the city of Guadalajara, to study law at the Universidad Tecnológica de Guadalajara; he also studied applied linguistics at the Universidad de Guadalajara. Octavio has worked as a teacher of Nahua language and culture at several schools and universities. Octavio was the co-founder of the Urban Indigenous Youth of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area collective, in which he carried out actions to make visible the Indigenous communities that live in the metropolitan area. He is also the founder and director of the Tochan Community collective that hosts events, festivals, ceremonies, and workshops, to strengthen the Indigenous language and culture of several communities in the municipality.

Rosalía Pablo Juárez

Rosalía Pablo Juárez has roots in the state of Oaxaca and belongs to the Triqui people. In search of better opportunities her parents came to northern Mexico to work in the agricultural fields. She is the proud daughter of day laborers who did their best to offer her the best they could. She speaks and writes her mother tongue and has developed her skills as a translator for her traditional language. Rosalia has worked in the defense of the rights of Indigenous People, women, and native seeds. Her philosophy is that conserving and sowing traditional seeds and plants is a revolution, because they are not only seeds; they are a fundamental part of our history, honor the work of our ancestors, and preserving them is important so our descendants can continue to sow and protect in the future.

Yazmín Novelo

A Mayan sociolinguist, communicator and singer-songwriter originally from Peto, Yucatán, Mexico, Yazmin was a volunteer announcer for the Indigenous radio station XEPET in her village at the age of 8. She has directed various communication projects in the Mayan language and developed projects to revitalize the Mayan language through music, writing and performing the Mayan language both in the United States and in a local context. She has been a professor of Mayan language and culture at universities around Mexico. Today she is part of the peninsular network for the future of the Mayan language U Péekbal Waye’, co-directs the Nojolo’on Community Center for Peace, in Peto Yucatán and is one of the mentors in linguistic revitalization of the Endangered Languages Project.