Native American Women

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Mililani B. TraskMililani B. Trask is a native Hawaiian attorney and expert in international human rights law. She is a founding member of the Indigenous Womens Network and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Hawaii and the International Training Center for Indigenous Peoples, in Greenland. She is one of the primary drafters of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which passed the UN General Assembly in 2007, and served as the Pacific Indigenous Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She served two four-year terms as Kia Aina (Prime Minister) of Ka Lahui Hawaii, the Sovereign Hawaiian Nation.

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Lisa Johnson BillyLisa Johnson Billy (born February 21, 1967) has represented Oklahoma House of Representatives District 42, which includes Cleveland, Garvin, Grady and McClain counties since 2004. She serves as Deputy Whip and Vice Chair of the Republican Caucus.
Lisa was born on Feb. 21, 1967 in Purcell, Oklahoma. Before beginning a career in the Oklahoma House of Representatives she served two terms on the Chickasaw Tribal Legislature from 1996-2001. Billy served on the National Board for Girl Scouts of the USA, as well as on the Sooner Council Girl Scouts Board.

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Amanda BlackhorseA Diné woman who is a psychiatric social worker by trade, Amanda Blackhorse has become a well-known activist for her fight against a certain football team in Washington, D.C. She is a plaintiff in the case that stripped the team of six of its seven trademarks. Her quest to change the name of the team continues.

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Shoni SchimmelShoni Schimmel was raised on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Mission, Oregon. Her skills on the basketball court were first captured in Jonathan Hock’s 2011 documentary Off The Rez, which followed her journey to receive an NCAA athletic scholarship.
Shoni stated, “We need more Native Americans out there in the world to show everyone what we’re all about because we can represent, we just haven’t gotten the chance to – to go out there and show the world what we can do.”

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Ashton Locklear
Ashton Locklear, Lumbee, is headed to the Summer Olympics in Rio. The 18-year-old gymnast, holder of seven national and world titles in uneven bars, placed second in that event and 13th in balance beam in the U.S. Olympic Trials held July 8-10 in San Jose, California to earn a spot as one of three alternates on the U.S. Olympic team. The Games begin August 5 in Rio de Janeiro. Right now, Locklear is training in Texas with national women’s team coordinator Martha Karolyi; should Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, or Aly Raisman be unable to compete, Locklear could find herself representing the United States—and Indian Country—on the floor.
She would be the first Native American athlete to compete in gymnastics in an Olympics.

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Bella Cornell“Get off the stage, squaw!”
Bella Cornell, a 14-year old girl from the Choctaw Nation, heard these words as she finished her testimony against the name and mascot of the McLoud High School Redskins during a school board meeting last month.
Though she understands her mother’s concerns after the meeting in McLoud, Cornell says she will continue to fight. The Choctaw teen hosts "Indigenous Aiukli," a radio show dedicated to Native American youth advocacy. 'Aiukli' is Cornell's middle name, meaning 'beautiful' in Choctaw.
“If we give up, it tells them that they won," said Cornell. "What happened to me is what happens when you allow racism.”

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Daunnette ReyomeDaunnette Reyome is a model and was featured in Teen Vogue. In the article she said, “I am Native American from the Omaha tribe in Nebraska. My Indian name means ‘shooting star.’ I wish the world knew that we do still exist. And, no, we don’t all live in tepees. When I see people in headdresses or Native American accessories, I feel disrespected. They don’t know the meaning behind it, how we wear it, or what we do to earn it. This is a real eagle feather. It doesn’t just fall off an eagle and someone says, ‘Oh, here — it’s yours.’ You have to earn it in my culture. I feel powerful when I wear it, more confident, and more connected to my ethnicity. I’ve never been embarrassed about being Native American. I take pride in it. I love how spiritual we are — it’s like we’re in tune with the Earth and the universe. I know there’s no other culture out there like mine.”

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Princella P. RedCorn
Princella Parker RedCorn has extensive experience in all aspects of media production, including research, documentary production, shooting, sound engineer, editing, youth media workshops, and the creation of film websites, educational curriculum and digital learning objects. She worked as Associate Producer on Standing Bear’s Footsteps, assisting NET Television’s Executive Producer Christine Lesiak with script development, production planning and providing logistical support throughout the production. Princella is a member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Theater.

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Nora Marks Dauenhauer
Nora Marks Dauenhauer was born in Juneau, Alaska, USA, in 1927. She belongs to the Tlingit Nation. Alaska's new State Writer Laureate, she is a poet, short-story writer, scholar of the language and Tlinglit traditions, translating, transcribing, and compiling Tlingit stories, sometimes together with her husband, Richard Dauenhauer who is also a writer and linguist. Some of her poetry books: Egg Boat, 1983; For healing our spirit : Tlingit oratory, 1990; Our ancestors speak, 1987; Our Culture, 1994; The droning shaman, 1988; Beginning Tlingit, 1976; Life woven with song, 2000.

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Martha Berry
Martha Berry is a Cherokee beadwork artist, who has been highly influential in reviving traditional Cherokee and Southeastern beadwork. She has been recognized as a Cherokee National Treasure. Her work is shown in museums around the United States.
Martha Berry was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a registered tribal citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Berry's grandmother and mother taught her how to sew and embroider at age five. She made her own clothes by age nine. When she was 20, she became a professional seamstress. She has expanded her skills by developing elaborate beadwork art. She taught herself the lost art of Cherokee beadwork by studying photographs of artifacts and examining Cherokee beaded artifacts at the Smithsonian Institution.

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Heather RaeHeather Rae (Cherokee) produced Frozen River, which was nominated for two Academy Awards, won two Gotham Awards and was nominated for seven Spirit Awards resulting in a Best Actress win for Melissa Leo and the Piaget Producer Award for Rae. Rae produced and directed Trudell which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to play in over 100 film festivals worldwide. For six years, Rae ran the Native Program at the Sundance Institute and was a programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. Last year, she was named one of Variety's Ten Producers to Watch.

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Doris Leader ChargeLakota Sioux Linguist, Actress. Doris Leader Charge (1930-2001) was born on the Rosebud Reservation. She translated the script for "Dances With Wolves" into Lakota and also appeared in the film as Pretty Shield, wife of Ten Bears. A special guest at the Academy Awards, she translated screenwriter Michael Blake's acceptance speech into the Lakota language. She taught Lakota studies for more than 28 years at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, South Dakota while raising six children.