My connection to the work at NDN Collective is long standing, and in many ways this work has felt like coming full circle. Before launching Emergence LLC, I served as the Director of Advancement at Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, the Pine Ridge Reservation-based organization created by NDN Collective President and Founder Nick Tilsen in 2007. At Thunder Valley CDC we created a groundbreaking, grassroots model for imagining new systems and creating a regenerative community. Many of the lessons learned there helped inform the structures of NDN Collective. I also supported the fundraising efforts at NDN in the very early years before an Advancement team was built. Now, as NDN works to sustain the movement infrastructure it has built  in a time where it is critically needed, I’m excited to continue collaboration with the team in creating systems, tools, and resources needed to drive lasting impact for Indigenous communities. 

My work with NDN fits into powerful alignment with our efforts at Emergence LLC, where we’ve raised over $70 million in just five years for Indigenous-led organizations across the country, advancing their work in culturally-grounded education, food sovereignty, economic development, and far more. Working more closely with NDN will require me to step back from intensive client-based work for right now. I personally will not be taking in new client work during this time. Emergence LLC is going through its own transitions and will start to look differently over the six months (additional updates to follow), but it isn’t going anywhere. While our efforts will be more targeted, we remain committed to working with leaders and organizations to dismantle the barriers that create injustice. 

I’m looking forward to centering my energy on helping NDN build on its unprecedented advancement successes. Over the last five years NDN Collective has become the largest Indigenous-led fund in existence. By the end of 2024 it will have provided $100 million in transformational grant support to more than 700 Indigenous-led organizations and leaders. As the organization embarks on the next phase moving into sustainability of its work–I’ll be focused on developing democratized advancement systems to fuel groundbreaking levels of investment in Indigenous-driven, sustainable, regenerative community-based solutions. This work will ensure that Indigenous-led organizations–including many of Emergence’s incredible clients–have access to flexible, abundant resources to drive systems change. 

Transitions like these seem to bring both excitement and mixed emotions, and that’s certainly been the case for me. But I continue to be grounded by the idea that, regardless of the organization we’re representing, what truly matters is what we’re working toward and who we’re working alongside. For me, at this moment, that’s working toward equity and justice for all people and Mother Earth alongside the team at NDN. I’m grateful to be a part of that movement, and to work with so many of you toward that vision for our collective future.”