5 Plain Questions

Dedra Zephier is a citizen of the 3 Affiliate Tribe in North Dakota, and was born and raised in North Dakota.

She was the first Native American who graduated from the North Dakota State College of Science’s Culinary Arts program. She has worked for nearly a decade as a chef in the Fargo Moorhead area.

5 Plain Questions Late Fall Update by Joe Williams

Inkpa Mani is an artist working in the Northern Plains. He received his Bachelors of Fine Art from the University of South Dakota in 2019 and is working on his Dakota Teaching Certificate and Business Administration Degree at Sisseton Wahpeton College. He has been accepted to the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art for fall 2021.

Inkpa was born in the Twin Cities and shortly after his family moved to a small village in Chihuahua Mexico. When he was in 4th grade his family permanently moved back to Minnesota just off the Lake Traverse Reservation. Living in his traditional homelands has influenced the way he looks at art and wanting to depict an authentic Dakota perspective of contemporary life.

Inkpa is a painter, sculptor, researcher and activist. His interest in academics, Dakota traditions and contemporary life are major themes of his work. Inkpa uses Dakota and Western theories of art to create works that help tell stories of his community. His work tells stories of survival, brilliance and hope that he sees in his people.

Inkpa currently works as a Geography and Immersion teacher at Tiospa Zina Tribal School on the Lake Traverse Reservation. Inkpa Mani has been working on a group show on the Oceti Sakowin Creation story which will open fall of 2021 and is preparing to sculpt a 10 ft. stone sculpture in Sisseton South Dakota next summer.

Artist Reyna Hernandez utilizes mixed media across disciplines to investigate the concept of identity hybridity in relation to her Indigenous bloodlines and westernized arts education. Reyna attempts to investigate her place in the world while examining the complex connections between western discourse, epistemic violence in academia, and her own sense of Dakota identity. 
 
Reyna has exhibited work throughout the United States, and was selected as a featured artist in I AM: Exploring Identity Through the Self-Portrait, an exhibit in association with the 2015 Guerrilla Girls Take Over the Twin Cities. She was the recipient of the Oscar Howe Curatorial Fellowship in 2015 and has continued to discuss her research while visiting colleges and classrooms around the U.S. Reyna has spoken on panels and exhibited work at All My Relations Art in Minneapolis MN, and won 2nd place mixed media at the 2016 Northern Plains Tribal Arts Show. She has served as a visiting artist at New Mexico State University (2019) and Colorado College (2018), where she held her first solo exhibit in the college's Coburn Gallery.

Hernandez is Ihanktonwan Dakota (Yankton Sioux), and received her B.A in English and B.F.A in Studio Arts at the University of South Dakota in 2016. She is currently working on a community-based mural project in Vermillion, SD where she also lives and works.

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Matt Barse is a Wichita/Kiowa/Dakota screenwriting and filmmaker residing in Norman, OK. He developed his creative skills at the University of Oklahoma and is a current candidate for a Bachelor’s in Art. Technical know-how was achieved at Oklahoma City Community College with a Certificate of Mastery in Digital Cinema Production as well as an Associate in Arts. Matt has found time to produce short and feature-length narratives and documentaries, using life experiences to create unique and relatable works of art, which can be described as "fact-based fiction." Barse has worked with many creative professionals in the filmmaking world to help bring his vision to life.

Michael LeBeau, MD, serves as the president of the Sanford Health Bismarck region, overseeing the administration of health services and is responsible for the successful planning and implementation of operational and strategic goals for the Bismarck region.

Dr. LeBeau has been with Sanford Health for more than 10 years. He began at Sanford as a physician specializing in kidney care as a nephrologist. Prior to his current role, he served on the Sanford Board of Trustees and was a physician leader as the vice president of clinics.

Dr. LeBeau graduated from the University of North Dakota, and completed his residency in internal medicine at Gunderson Lutheran Medical Foundation in La Crosse, Wis. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and serves on the board of trustees for the University of North Dakota School of Medicine alumni foundation.

Ciciley Littlewolf is a proud citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. She received two bachelor's degrees first from the University of South Dakota in Criminal Justice and in Zoology from North Dakota State University. She went on to get her Doctor of Medicine from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health sciences.

She is currently in her 2nd year of Internal Medicine Residency with the University of North Dakota in Fargo, ND.

Dr. Littlewolf currently serves in the North Dakota Army National Guard. She entered the Army as an enlisted soldier and served as the capacity of Combat Medic and after graduating from medical school she got her direct commission and currently holds the rank of Captain.

Mariah Cooper is a 4th year medical student in the INMED program at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. She is a citizen of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and grew up on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Reservation, near Hayward, Wisconsin.

Her biography is as follows.

Boozhoo! My name is Mariah Star Cooper and my Ojibwe/Anishinaabe name is Waabizhiiquay. I am an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and grew up on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Reservation, near Hayward, Wisconsin. My family is from the New Post community. I had the honor of representing my tribe as a youth ambassador by being Jr. Miss Honor the Earth and Miss Honor the Earth. I graduated as Valedictorian from Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe High School and attended the University of Wisconsin - River Falls to earn my Bachelor of Science in Biology, with emphasis in Biomedical Sciences. In my undergraduate career, I attended the Native Americans into Medicine Program at the University of Minnesota, Four Directions Summer Research Program at Harvard Medical School, Andrew W. Mellon Summer Internship in Conservation at the National Museum of the American Indian and Smithsonian Institution, and the Visiting Summer Research Program at Harvard Medical School. I am a third-year medical student at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences and am in the process of earning my Doctor of Medicine degree. Miigwetch!

Kristal Hudson is a Navajo fourth-year medical student at the University of North Dakota, currently finishing up her rotations in Fargo, ND. She has earned an Associates of Science from San Juan College in addition to Bachelor of Science in Biology and Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry with a Minor in Music from the University of New Mexico. Originally from Farmington, NM where most of her upbringing was on and off the Navajo Reservation. She enjoys hiking, reading, planting/gardening, and trail running.