I am Koyukon Dené and I was raised on my ancestral homelands of Dleł Taneets. As the saying goes, it took a village: my grandparents raised me while my parents finished completing their education, aunts and uncles took active roles in my upbringing, my great-grantparents would babysit me, and I was always running around with my cousins. We live seasonally as our ancestors have for thousands of years: birding in the spring, fishing in the summer, berry picking and hunting in the fall, trapping in the winter.

When the Rampart school shutdown due to the state not wanting to fund remote schools, it displaced my community, and my family chose to move to the city of Fairbanks. Fortunately, once the school year was done we would return home for the rest until we had to begin classes again. Going from a village baby to city folk was where I first learned how to handle culture shock along with between traditional practices and a western world.

My education would take me further as I attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska, a state funded boarding school on the traditional lands of Tlingit Aani. I thrived as a student-athlete and community member. I joined Athabascan Dance Group, the volunteering club L.E.A.D.S., competed in Battle of the Books, was a National Honor Society member, attend youth groups in town, and took every oppotunity to kayak or hike in the beautiful rainforest. I competed in sports with much success. In cross country we won regionals as a team, I was a team captain, and went to state. In wrestling I had to compete with boys because girls wrestling wasn’t sanctioned until my senior year, was a team captain, and I became one of Alaska’s first girl state champions. I played basketball all four years for run because ball is life haha. I competed in Native Youth Olympics, was a team leader, and I became a state champion in the one hand reach. I graduted as a Lillian Lane Recepiant (the highest student-athlete award at MEHS ) and the national Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award for Alaska.

My student-athlete career continued on when I received a scholarship to wrestle for Menlo College and go for my psychology degree. As a first generation college student moving to a metropolitan area as the only Alaska Native on campus, this era challenged me in every way possible: financially, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I had to grow stronger in every way possible to endure the challenges, and build my own community while away from my own. In this time I became an ally-accomplice to many new communities, joined a wrestling sisterhood, became friends with people from all over the world, learned how to advocate for myself, used my education to learn how to help my community, and fought for the life I wanted. I became an All-American wrestler on a 2x national championship team, graduated with my psycholgy degree, and solidified to myself that I can endure any hardships to accomplish what was needed.

I decided to stay in the Bay Area to see where my culinary career would take me: what started as a part time college coffee shop job turned into a cooking managerial role with the company. After two years with one company, I was recruited to work at a retirement home the same month that COVID lockdown happened. It felt like divine protection because I was getting paid more, had better benefits, and we were priortized on PPE + testing + vaccines because we worked with elders. After a year I was burnt out from kitchen work and city life. I decided to end my job, end my time living in the Bay Area, and go soul searching.

For a year I drove around the Western United States going to National Parks, camping, and connecting with friends across the nation. I gave myself 6 months to live frugally, find a new career that aligned with my values, and heal. in 2021 I began modeling, was accepted in an Alaska Native filmmakers cohort, and started my role as the Broadband Specialist for Native Movement and Alaska Public Interest Research Group. This new era helped me move back home, start engaging with Alaska policy and politics, along with making big strides to become the Native creative I have always wanted to be. When I moved back home, I started my cultural education again with Denakk’e language learning, harvesting, and traditionally brain tanning hides.

in 2025, I am transitioning into full time freelance work. I have become a tanning hide teacher, I am making my own films, taking on multiple different roles in film work, writing, interviewing, teaching Native games, being an international Native games athlete, and engaging in all the cultural-community work that I can dream of.

I am launching this website as a way share my story, to house all the projects I am working on, to showcase what skillsets I have to offer, and be a way for people to find more Alaska creatives.