Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine

This episode explores work being done towards authentically and accurately representing Native people, communities, and our stories.

Rebecca Crooks-Stratton (Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community) is the Secretary/Treasurer of her tribe, and now she leads "Understand Native Minnesota," an ambitious campaign to support Native American narrative change in Minnesota’s K-12 education system, as a way to raise awareness and constructively overcome misunderstandings and misperceptions.

Chad Germann (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) is the Founder and CEO of Red Circle, one of the nation’s top Native-owned advertising agencies. Chad Germann is a rising success in the Twin Cities ad agency world, specializing in marketing and advertising for Casinos, and is known for his notable ads bringing awareness to the #NotYourMascot movement. [Read Transcript...]

Respected Anishinaabe elder and well-known physician, Dr. Arne Vainio (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) tells the story of how he became one of only 3,400 Native physicians in the United States. He is currently a family physician at the Fond du Lac tribal clinic. His story is about class divisions, lateral violence, and the unwavering generosity of people in his Native community. [Read Transcript...]

We kick off our new season with a story from Mnicoujou [mini-co-jew] Lakota doula, Takayla Lightfield. She stands side-by-side with Native women supporting the birth of the next generation.

Takayla Lightfield (Mnicoujou Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota), is a self-employed doula who also works at the Division of Indian Work and is a breastfeeding consultant in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. [Read Transcript...]