Elders & Wisdom Keepers
Nahua (Aztec) and Mexican American
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PhD | Aztec and Mexican-American
Anita is a published author, consultant, trainer and executive coach who has worked with tens of thousands of global leaders and teams around the world. She specializes in indigenous wisdom, diversity and inclusion, leadership, culture and promoting positive change in our world.
Oneida & Gaul nations
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Oneida | Gaul
Founder, Worldwide Indigenous Science Network
Apela has dedicated her life’s work to bridge Western thought and indigenous worldviews. As a Ford Fellow, Dr. Colorado studied for her doctorate at both Harvard and Brandeis Universities and received her Ph.D. from Brandeis in Social Policy in 1982. She founded the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) in 1989 to foster the revitalization, growth and worldwide exchange of traditional knowledge and to safeguard the lives and work of the world’s endangered traditional culture practitioners. In 1997, Dr. Colorado was one of 12 women chosen from 52 countries by the State of the World Forum (www.worldforum.org) to be honored for her role as a woman leader. Dr. Colorado founded the first doctoral program in traditional knowledge (Indigenous Mind) at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has authored numerous articles including several in peer- reviewed journals and is the author of Woman between the Worlds (2017).
Pacheedaht First Nation, BC
Ngāti Kurī & Te Rarawa Māori, Aotearoa (New Zealand)
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Catherine (Te Rarawa and Ngāti Kurī Māori peoples, Aotearoa, New Zealand) has been an Indigenous human rights and environmental defender most of Her adult life. Her credentials include a Master of Laws; official roles in two Māori Treaty Claims negotiations with the New Zealand Government; UN OHCHR Indigenous Fellowships (2005 and 2020); Indigenous representative postings for numerous UN mechanisms (including Pacific Caucus Chair responsibilities); and founding member of various local and Pacific regional activist networks. A proud grandmother, Catherine also works in the area of metaphysical activism - particularly Indigenous spiritual knowledge and practices for healing people and the planet.
Oglala Lakota, Red Cloud family, Pine Ridge SD
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Ed Holy Pipe, Canunpa Wakan hunka Oglala Lakota of the Red Cloud family of Pine Ridge South Dakota, following the Lachol wichokan or Lakota way of being since boyhood.
Captain of the US ARMY and Alaska Army National Guard retired.
Traditional dancer and ceremonial pipe carrier after the Mato wicasa (Bear man or vision of the Bear) way of life. Conducting the traditional Oinikaga of initipi (sweat lodge) and pipe ceremony for the people in Alaska 30 years.
Just ikcye wicasa (a common man) Traveled all over Alaska and lived in Anchorage, Chugiak, Wasilla, and now Trapper Creek area.
Unangan, St. George Island, Alaska
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Unangan Elder, Alaska
George was born and raised on St. George Island in Alaska of the Unangan people, and is a life-long friend of Ilarion. He graduated with BS degree from Southwestern College in Winfield, KS. He’s been married for 50 years to Leonella Fratis of St. Paul Island in Alaska. He has five children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Canada
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Executive Director | All One Sky Foundation
All One Sky is a Canadian charitable organization that focuses on climate change and its impact on vulnerable populations. Helen has worked as a writer, editor and documentary film-maker for three decades. She worked with Susanne Swibold on films and community development projects on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska and Commander Islands, Russia. Helen has worked in the climate change field since 2001, communicating complex environmental issues to the public. She has a BA, University of Alberta and Bachelor of Journalism, Carleton University. She is a research associate at the Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary. Helen received a Ford Fellowship in environmental politics, University of California, Berkeley & 2 Mesa Refuge fellowships for environmental journalism.
Israeli-American of Romanian birth & ancestry
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Wombs of Peace Co-Creator
DeAnna L’am - Red Tents | Israeli-American of Romanian birth & ancestry. Fondly known as ‘Womb Visionary’ DeAnna begun offering Menstrual Empowerment to women in the early 1990's. She has been on the leading edge of the global Red Tent Movement since its beginning, and has trained women to hold Red Tents in over 30 countries.
DeAnna brought Menstrual Empowerment work to Israel, her country of origin, helping Jewish and Palestinian women surpass political and religious differences by deeply bonding around their shared Cyclical nature.
She is author of 'Becoming Peers - Mentoring Girls Into Womanhood', and 'A Diva’s Guide to Getting Your Period' . And founder of Red Tent Academy ; Womb Academy; Red Moon School of Empowerment for Women & Girls ; Red Tents In Every Neighborhood - Global Network ; and International Red Tent Day (celebrated globally on November 8)
Kumu (Educator) | Historian | Activist - Kaua’i, Hawai’i
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Educator | Historian | Activist | Kaua’i, Hawai’i
Twenty years as a free-lance photojournalist working for publications such as Time, Life and National Geographic.
Hawaiian Studies Kumu of Island School on Kaua‘i, Kumu Hula of Na Pua O Kamaile, Kaua‘ coordinator for the Department of Education’s Hawaiian Studies Kupuna Program, Kumu Kapa on Kaua‘i who has taught many hundreds of students & team members of the Kulia i Ka Nu‘u Project at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Founding member and Past-President of Na Pali Coast Ohana, a grassroots non-profit foundation dedicated to the preservation of the natural and cultural resources of the Nāpali Coast State Park, Kaua‘i Hawai‘i. Emau‘ana ke o ka ‘aina i na, hanauna o kawa mamua. “Preserving the life of the land for future generations.” The work at Nualolo Kai by the combined efforts of the Ohana, DLNR and State Parks is considered one of the most successful curatorship programs in Hawai‘i. She serves on the Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development board and has worked tirelessly for years to restore and preserve culturally significant sites.
Woodland Cree, Sucker Creek Cree First Nation, Alberta
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Woodland Cree from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation | Northern Alberta, Canada
Lewis is a communicator and educator, he has dedicated his life’s work to creating and maintaining connections and relationships that cross-cultural divides. His work has mirrored his personal vision of a socially just and responsive society. His long track record of public service includes, founding Board Member of Alberta Aboriginal Arts, Board Member of Theatre Network, Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Commission for Human Rights and Justice, and Lewis has received Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Public Service, the Indspire Award for Public Service (the highest award given to an Indigenous person by Indigenous people in Canada), the Province of Alberta’s Centennial Medal for his work in Human Rights and Diversity, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Grant MacEwan University, and was recently conferred the Honorary Degree of “Doctor of Sacred Letters” from St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta.
His consulting company, Cardinal Strategic Communications, specializes in Indigenous education, governance, and communications.
Arhuaco | Mamo Spiritual Priest | Colombia
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Arhuaco| Mamo Spiritual Priest | Colombia
Lorenzo is a lead representative for the elders of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta region and was involved in the foundation of the Confederation of the Ancestral Authorities of the Original Nations of the World (CAAENOCANM). The Mamo are the spiritual priests trained in darkness by living in caves for first 9 to 18 years. They are trained in the dark to tune into into “Aluna” the Great Mother who creates all things. They are direct descendants of the Tairona culture which pre-dates the Inca and Mayan Cultures.
Black American & Yoruba ancestry, St. Croix
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( born River Lee Adams) - in Pocahontas Mississippi was initiated by Ifa Pristess Yamaja in the ancestral traditions of the Yoruba people of western Africa and studied and trained with Malidoma Some' in shamanism. She is a medicine woman, diviner, shamanic practitioner, founder & co-founder for the St. Croix Council of Elders. Iya’s life purpose and dedication are to the service of humanity as a whole and to leave the earth in a greater place than she found it.
Contact: riverleea@gmail.com , Iyathaira@outlook.com Stcroixcounscilofelders@gmail.com
Hawaiian Kahuna
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Hawaiian Kahuna and a spiritual ocean, plants, animals, land, nature and native peoples’ advocate. Mahina’s parents, Tiger Espere and Linda Derohan, raised her to respect and honor the spiritual realm. Early on, her father taught his Kahuna the hidden knowledge in the valleys of their Hawaiian ancestors, and secrets of the ocean. He was part of the Polynesian double haul canoe voyaging society, which opened up the doors to Tahiti where she moved to, at 22. Then, 17 years later, she moved back to Kauai with her family, to work for and with her motherland.
Yupi’k | Alaska
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Yupi’k
Marie works at the university of Alaska teaching Yupi’k culture and language, and has received several awards in different realms. Grandmother Rita Blumenstein’s right hand, Grandmother Marie Arnaq Meade is a revered teacher and Elder to many.
Otomí-Toltec | Mexico
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Mindahi is the chief leader of the Grand Council of the Eagle and the Condor.
Mindahi Bastida has been the Director of the Original Nations Program of the Fountain 2020-2023 and until July 2020 was the Director of the Original Caretakers Program, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (2017-2020). He is also General Coordinator of the Otomi-Toltec Regional Council in Mexico and caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi-Toltec peoples, and has been an Otomi-Toltec Ritual Ceremony Officer since 1988. He is consultant with UNESCO around Sacred Sites and Biocultural issues.
Mindahi has served as a delegate to various commissions and summits on indigenous rights and sustainability, including the 1992 Earth Summit and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, 2002).
He has written on the relation between the state and Indigenous Peoples, intercultural education, collective intellectual property rights and associated traditional knowledge, biocultural sacred sites, and other topics.
Khomani San Bushmen | South Africa
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Khomani San Bushmen/South Africa
Lys lives in the Kalahari region of South Africa. She speaks the traditional Nama language and Afrikaans. Lys is a healer doing traditional energy massage using the n/um energy and going into the !Kia trance state.
Yanakuna | Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia
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Colombian Elder, Project Coordinator for ONIC - Yanakuna | Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Colombia
His ancestral name, Pacha K’anchay, means “the sun-glint that penetrates the earth.” He has spent his life learning spiritual practices of his ancestors and elders. He has also walked many of the territories of his native land, learning and sharing with many different native, ethnic groups. Today, he is a speaker and Coordinator od the Great National Council of Indigenous Elders in Columbia (ONIC), representing his Yanakuna tribe. He travels a great deal sharing and teaching on how to coexist in harmony with the spirit and wisdom of Mother Earth.
Diné Nation
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Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining
PAT McCABE - Diné Nation and was also adopted into the Lakota Spiritual way of Life. She is a mother, grandmother, activist, artist, and international speaker. She identifies as a "radical bridger" of worlds and paradigms, with a focus on sharing from her own deep inquiry into Thriving Life Paradigm: "How do I become that being, that human, whose presence and way of being supports and causes all other life to Thrive?" She calls upon her lived experience from her indigenous cultures to make hypotheses and proposals to "Modern World Paradigm" as all of humanity is faced with its current crisis of relationship, with ourselves, with each other, and with the Earth.
Elder, Wisdom & Cultural Keeper | Kaua’i, Hawai’i
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Kumu Hula, Hawaiian Wisdom Keeper & Cultural Practitioner | Kaua’i, Hawai’i
Puna is a shining community figure and is pivotal in supporting numerous programs, events and organizations that celebrate diversity and Hawaiian cultural values. From seed exchanges to surf meets and festivals to sacred ceremonies, Puna brings a gift of ancient Hawaiian wisdom and a family lineage that traces back through many island generations.
As one of the founders of Kanuikapono Charter School, in Anahola, Puna delights in her work with the keiki (children) and kumu (teachers). Puna has been involved in spearheading numerous community organizations, and is the former president of both the Canoe Association and the Mokihana and Emmalani Festivals. She was also a founding member of Leadership Kaua‘i and the Kaua‘i Planning and Action Alliance (KPAA) − to name just a few.
Puna Kalama embodies a pure, Hawaiian essence and delights in sharing her ancient lineage while infusing the message of aloha from her heart to humanity.
Hopi/Havasupai/Tewa Elder
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Hopi/Havasupai/Tewa Elder
Founding Member of the International Council of Indigenous Grandmothers
The council is a group of spiritual elders and wisdom weavers whose mission is to preserve and protect Indigenous Earth based medicine and culture and promote “oneness” consciousness. Mona has a MSW and is a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes of Parker, Arizona. She is known for her social, spiritual activism and leadership and is a featured conference speaker nationally and internationally. She is the president/CEO and faculty of the Turtle Island Project, a non-profit program dedicated to promoting a vision of wellness and providing trans-cultural training to individuals, family and healthcare professionals. Her intercontinental work among Indigenous Peoples includes assisting First Nations of Canada in drafting of Water Declarations and South American Peoples in collaborative effort to “call for protection of the cultural and sacred waters” on the lands and territories of the Indigenous Peoples of the world. Mona served as an Indigenous delegate of the World Religious Leaders in drafting the Faith in Human Rights Statement that Religion and Spiritual Beliefs and Practices are a Human Right. She participates in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Issues and for the last 12 years she has been a member and Co-Secretariat of an international group planning the Indigenous World Forum on Water and Peace.
Quechua & Aymara | Peru
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American/Canadian Elder
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Canmore, Canada
Susanne is an artist, explorer, teacher and naturalist. Her artistic vision and passionate curiosity have led her to collaborate with renowned paleontologists, Bering Sea Aleut communities and modern dance choreographers. Susanne has a BFA from the Chicago Art Institute and University of Chicago and an MFA, University of Michigan. She has taught art, photography and film in the United States and Canada. The recipient of Canada's highest award in the arts, Susanne has produced independent documentary films and published widely in periodicals and books. Susanne produced and filmed four documentary films with the Aleut peoples of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska and Commander Islands, Russia. She is a research associate at the Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary. She has been invited to lecture and conduct seminars internationally on her film techniques and conservation efforts in the Bering Sea.
Greenlandic, Inuk & Kalaaleq
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Suulut is a Greenland-based consultant who uses his background in research, advocacy and management to help derive solutions that benefit both ecosystems and resource users. He has extensive experience working directly with community members across Greenland and gathering local knowledge about the natural environment. More recently, he has served Greenland at a variety of departments and levels of government, including as the former deputy minister of the environment. He lives in Nuuk. Today he is the CEO of Oceans North Kallaallit Nunaat.
Tygh-pum/Hopi, Warm Springs Nation
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Tygh-pum/Hopi member of the Warm Springs Nation,
Sal grew up on two separate Indian reservations. Firmly planted in an inheritance of cultures and languages, he chose to bridge two cultures through education and spiritual tradition. He received his BA with honors from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Prometheus College in Tacoma, Washington. He retired following a mission to help his people overcome learned helplessness and become whole again.
Djabugay Elder | Kuranda, Australia
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Djabugay Elder | Kuranda, Australia
As a traditional Bama rainforest dancer with the Djabugay Dance Theatre, Wally has traveled the world with his well known grandfather, Lance Riley. Wally's bushman skills come from deep knowledge past on by grandfather and father and carried down from their ancestors for generations. He was trained in botanical knowledge by the women of his family as a child walking the forest tracks in the coastal wet tropics of Far North, Queensland.
Snow Leopard Shaman | Kyrgyzstan
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Snow Leopard Shaman | Kyrgyzstan
Zhaparkul graduated from Jonaryk school and started his army service in Navoi, Uzbekistan. He worked as a livestock farmer in a collective farm named after Lenin and studied agriculture. He also worked as a zoo technician. Zhaparkul has dedicated himself full time to being a spiritual practitioner. He’s fulfilling his role as a spiritual practitioner through the following projects:
Established and ran a center of traditional medicine "Archa Tamyr Ruhanii" in the Talas provincial hospital
Is in collaboration with Worldwide Indigenous Science Network
Activated and reignited the 30,000 year old Uluu Oot Sacred Fire ceremony, uniting healers from over 70 countries
Worked at an ethno-cultural center "Dasmiya” for 2 years
Has been conducting field visits within Kyrgyzstan as a spiritual practitioner
In 2013, Zhaparkul was invited by the President of Kyrgyzstan to present at the United Nations Forum on Snow Leopard Conservation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
In 2014 he participated in the Global Alliance for Big Cat Conservation meeting, bringing together big cat shamans and scientists in Timbavati, South Africa
In 2016 Zhaparkul was Invited to present at the United Nations Forum on Snow Leopard Conservation in York City, New York, USA. It was the first time a spiritual practitioner participated as an equal to scientists and government officials. As a Snow Leopard Shaman, Zhaparkul teaches us "To understand the snow leopards' messages, we first need to connect to the higher spirit and know who we are."
Yidinji Tablelands, Australia
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Yidinji Tablelands/Australia
Tricia is passionate about providing empowering opportunities to other Indigenous artists to share their stories and grow professionally and personally. With over 5 years experience delivering Indigenous tourism workshops to domestic and international audiences, she brings practical know-how and a commitment to help others share their story. Tricia was a 2015 recipient of a Cassowary Coast Regional Council RADF: Regional Arts Development Fund grant, enabling her to refine her heritage quality weaving. These basket weaving skills open up doors that enable Tricia to become a Cultural Heritage Teacher—passing onto other people her Yidinji Tablelands Culture.