Title 1 school nurse; maternal health researcher at California Rural Indian Health Board’s Tribal Epidemiology Center; perinatal behavioral health coach, maternal health educator, doula and crisis counselor
At Duke: “The Global Health Certificate program exposed me to the social determinants of health framework that now underpins all my work – learning to examine health disparities through interdisciplinary lenses taught me that you can’t address maternal mortality without understanding housing insecurity, food access and systemic racism.”
Future Ph.D.: “My doctoral research focuses on decolonizing doula education by examining how mainstream training perpetuates harm and developing culturally responsive curricula for tribal communities, directly addressing the maternal mortality crisis affecting Indigenous people.”
Success: “As a Chippewa-Cree proud Indigenous woman, authentic success means making my mom, my family and my community proud while helping the next generation of Indigenous birth workers toward sovereignty in our reproductive health care. Success feels like deep connection and truly listening to the voices of others, because I believe you can’t lead unless you’re willing to follow first and learn from those around you.”