Today, we’re excited to speak with Rick Haaland, an animal rescuer and advocate who is the Pets for Life community outreach manager for the Leech Lake Tribal Police. 

Rick shares the story of the most memorable dog of his childhood, a stray that showed up one day and never left. Even when Rick spent the summer with his grandparents, Drifter, unwilling to be left behind, walked two days to reunite with him.

A lifelong animal lover, Rick only came to animal rescue after 40 years in various jobs and as a small business owner. Through Pets for Life, he helps Leech Lake pet owners to keep their animals healthy with access to affordable vet care. This also includes the future building of a Leech Lake Animal Wellness Center to address the lack of nearby veterinarian services.

Rick is currently 5th district commissioner and Board Chair for Cass County. He and his family share their home with three dogs and one cat.

Today, we're very excited to speak with David Wise, descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and founder of Native Wise, a farm which is focused on soil health, restorative farming and Indigenous agricultural practices.

David started his bison herd after a dream with Chief Buffalo, who told him to bring back his namesake. Starting with twelve, he now has a herd that numbers close to sixty, including Renegade and Brutus, two bulls that have become best buddies. The ranch is also home to three Ojibwe Spirit Horses.

David and wife Patra teach their kids that good food is good medicine. They share that good medicine with the community through Native Wise's seasonal CSAs and online store. 

Today, we are excited to speak with Wendy Roy, a beader and entrepreneur from the White Earth Nation. She mentors other artists and also teaches at White Earth Tribal and Community College.

Wendy learned beading from her grandmother, who shared the trick to knowing which bead colors go together. Her grandma would pour beads on a tray to see which beads grouped together and wanted to be friends with each other. She also taught her granddaughter that every bead you sew is a prayer for the person who will wear the object.

For Wendy, beading is not just a way to share her culture and make a living but also a form of healing. She talks about dealing with depression and coming back from a recent wrist injury that kept her from her beadwork.

In her free time, Wendy likes to read books, spend time with family and ride Harley Davidsons.

Today we are speaking with Giizh Sarah Agaton Howes. Howes is an award-winning Anishinaabe creator, artist and organizer from Fond Du Lac reservation and Muscogree Creek. She’s the CEO of Heart Berry, a contemporary Ojibwe Design brand that offers wool blankets, apparel, gifts and accessories rooted in Howes’s beadwork and Ojibwe floral designs.

Giizh was raised by an artist mother but never thought about herself as one until she realized art wasn’t just paintings in a museum but the cultural traditions from her Ojibwe community. She started with beading and moccasin making. That led to her teaching workshops so others could become cultural makers too.

She shares the origin story of Heart Berry, which grew out of a desire to see Ojibwe designs translated into contemporary apparel and to take back the wool blanket as a Native craft. 

She also talks about a recent mural project on the Cloquet bandshell, finding art that we love and that loves us back, and course correcting after a wrong turn. 

Giizh lives in Sawyer with her family. These days, she’s experiencing the bittersweet emotions of a parent who has recently seen her first child graduate from high school.

In today’s episode, we welcome back Jonathan Thunder, who last appeared on Native Lights in 2021. Since then, the Red Lake Nation citizen and multidisciplinary artist has become a father and opened an art gallery.

He talks about how fatherhood has changed his approach to art and why lately he’s shifted his creative focus from sociopolitical ideas to joy. Thunder also shares the experience of creating a special work of art with his son.

The artist’s dreamy images have found their way onto canvases and murals and into animated films. Now you can also find them at Mishi Bizhaw Art Gallery. Thunder opened the gallery spring 2025 in Duluth, where he lives with his wife, author Tashia Hart, and their three-year-old, Minnow.

In this episode, we speak with Dan Ninham, PhD, a retired physical education teacher and coach, co-founder of the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame and prolific freelance writer. 

Dan, Wolf Clan from the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, has had a lifelong interest in sports. This 6'10" college basketball player devoted his working life to coaching and teaching sports. Even though he's retired, he stays on the road much of the year, giving presentations at schools on Indigenous sports and foods and filing freelance stories for multiple outlets. 

With wife Susan, he co-founded the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. The couple live in Red Lake and have recently celebrated the birth of a sixth granddaughter. 

In this episode, we speak with BearPaw Shields from the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. She is a Saint Cloud State University alumna and is currently the Indigenous Learning Community Program Coordinator at the University’s American Indian Center.

In her forties, she decided to go to college and get a degree so that she could make the change she wanted to see in the world. She does that now through her work at St. Cloud State’s American Indian Center, helping Native students to succeed in school and connect with their culture through language, field trips and other experiences. 

As a board member with the Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, she had been instrumental in teaching park staff and visitors about the land’s Native history. Last year, that included the opening of an amphitheater with art provided by Indigenous artists and the names of park animals provided in Dakota and Ojibwemowin.

BearPaw Shields lives in Zimmerman where she likes to go on hikes and find her serenity at the nearby Refuge 

In this episode, we speak with Allison Waukau (Menominee/Navajo), who serves as the Tribal Liaison and Native Relations Coordinator at the Metropolitan Council. She previously worked at the Hennepin County Library and the Roseville School District as American Indian Community Liaison. 

Last year, she started a new podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger. Through “Books Are Good Medicine,” the co-hosts explore Native literature with the aim of increasing the knowledge of educators and libraries about Native American books and materials.

Allison Waukau lives in Minneapolis with her family, including a young son, and had a dream come true recently when she was selected to participate in Cohort 14 of the Native Governance Center’s Rebuilder Program.

Allison’s podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger can be found at Books Are Good Medicine.

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Amber Annis about the joys and challenges of rebuilding community and finding your voice as a leader.

Dr. Amber Annis is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Executive Director of Native Governance Center. Prior to taking on her role at NGC in December 2024, she worked at the Minnesota Historical Society as Associate Vice President of Tribal Nation Relations and Native American Initiatives. She was also a member of NGC's Native Nations Rebuilder Program for Cohort 11. 

In her position at NGC, she supports efforts to rebuild Indigenous communities and empower leaders to find their strengths and their unique voices. A mother of two, she lives in St. Paul with her husband, a citizen of Turtle Mountain, and their dogs.

In this episode, we hear from Deven Current about tattooing, sports and the importance of sobriety, family and faith.

Deven is an Ojibwe tattoo artist, who connected with his culture later in life. Deven grew up in the Twin Cities and, at a young age, fell into drug addiction. He ended up incarcerated, but his time in prison introduced him to an unrealized talent - tattoo art. He turned that talent into a career and recently into his business, LuckyDuck Ink and Art in Atwater. Through his business and tattoo career, Deven honors a friend who passed away. 

Deven also spent time as a competitive mixed martial artist.

In 2025, Deven and his wife Sabrina are celebrating six years of sobriety and enjoying family time with their 11 children.

Producers/Hosts: Leah Lemm & Cole Premo
Editors: Britt Aamodt and Chris Harwood