Jacob Aki on Native histories: "When we look into our history, we have a history of excellence...and we have to reclaim that."

Jacob Aki

My conversation with Jacob Aki sparked a lot of thoughts about how I think about leadership and solving tough problems.

Jacob’s bio below outlines well his leadership and contribution to his community at such a young age. In particular, I was taken by two parts of our conversation:

First, Jacob discussed the organization Aha Kane, which has the mission “To nurture a healthier Native Hawaiian male population by eliminating psychosocial, health, and educational disparities through activities founded on traditional cultural practices that build sustainability in the community.” Essentially the organization has formalized mentoring of young Hawaiian men in traditional teachings, but also creates a network to rely upon throughout one’s life. There is a woman’s organization, too. This seems to be an innovative approach to create formal and informal networks in the community.

Second, Jacob discusses the current debate happening in the Hawaiian community surrounding how the nation should move forward. I’m not jumping into the middle of that debate, but I thought about how we often think of previous leaders and how they were able to unify a people under their leadership. There have to be those types of people today, but do we think of their skills and abilities in the same was as we appreciate those whose contributions we can see retroactively?

The other leadership component I thought about is how young and old generations transition the knowledge and decision making in an organization/business/community/government. I think the natural tendency for young Native people is to stand back and let others lead because that is what we think we’ve been taught (and often times is what we are taught). But Jacob told a story about how once he and others got involved in different processes, older leaders expressed appreciation that they were there, and consternation about what took them so long to step up. Learning happens by doing, and I think there is a cultural estuary that we miss out on if we don’t bring different generations together to teach and correct and to learn and succeed.

This is not to say that a young person should expect to lead their people without any prior experience. But it is to say that people of any age can get involved in a variety of ways and begin to learn how to lead, learn and carry themselves.

Any thoughts? Leave a comment below.

Jacob’s bio

Jacob Bryan Kaʻōmakaokalā Aki is a 21 year old Native Hawaiian who was born and raised in Kapālama and Waiʻanae on the island of Oʻahu. He is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools and currently a senior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He is majoring in Hawaiian Studies and Language. Jacob was also a 2015 participant in the Native American Political Leadership Program at the George Washington University in Washington D.C. While in Washington D.C. he was a Federal Policy Intern at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Washington D.C. Bureau. After returning to Hawaiʻi, Jacob became a youth board member for the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) and Peace Child International Hawaiʻi. Jacob was the youngest delegate at the ʻAha 2016: Native Hawaiian Governance Convention. He recently returned from New York City, where he attended the 2016 United National Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, where he became the Pacific Focal Point for the World Indigenous Youth Caucus. Jacob is currently a Public Policy Intern at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. He hopes to attend law school where he can use his degree to serve the Hawaiian people. His goal is to become a prominent leader in the Native Hawaiian Community.

Kekoa McClellan: ""We can never forget that we are native first, but we cannot ignore that we are not the only people who matter.. We have to look at the people around us. If we separate ourselves from them, we are separating ourselves from their hearts."

Kekoa McClellan is the President and CEO of Pelatron Power Evolution and the President of the firm's Joint Venture PQ Energy, LLC.  McClellan leads the development of waste-to-energy systems in the State of Hawaiʻi.  

As part of the Pelatron Center for Economic Development family of companies, Kekoa directs the group's external finance and government relations activities.  Prior to his work with Pelatron Power Evolution, Kekoa was the Chief of Staff to Honolulu City Council member Stanley Chang, managed an independent political consulting firm, and worked as a commercial banking officer at Central Pacific Bank.

Kekoa has served on numerous community boards including The March of Dimes and Hawaiʻi Maoli, and he is currently a director at One Hawaiʻi In Action (OHIA), a Native Hawaiian think tank founded by Senator Daniel K. Akaka. Kekoa is a graduate of The Kamehameha Schools, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Hawaiʻi Pacific University, and an Executive MBA from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business.  Mr. McClellan's wife, Makana McClellan is the Public Information Officer for the Queens Health Systems.  The McClellan's are Ma'ili residents and together have two children - Emma Sophia (3) and Brinton Thomas (2).

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NextGen Native is, among other things, a place to learn about other Native people and where they are from. Though a Hawaiian may be different culturally from someone from Coeur d'Alene or a Pueblo, there are some commonalities about how we interact with the world. And there is definitely similarities with how we’ve interacted with the United States.

Kekoa McClellan shares his wealth of knowledge about business and about his work to give back to his Hawaiian community. He does this in a variety of ways, but particularly through his day jobs at Pelatron Power, owned by the Pelatron Center for Economic Development. If you are not familiar with Native Hawaiian Organizations, this is a great episode to put your learning cap on.

[ed note: Jose Acevedo’s challenge to NextGen Natives was actually directed at me (and you). The challenge was for me to use the NextGen Native platform to bring  NextGen Natives together in person. If this interests you, let me know by leaving a comment here, or on Facebook/Twitter, etc.]

Jose Acevedo connects with all kinds of people through his podcast Finding Arizona. He also connects with people through the business he created, War Cry Warrior. And that does not include his day job as a landscape architect. Jose’s ability to connect with people has roots with who he is as a person.

Jose is Hopi and Puerto Rican. He lived in Pennsylvania until he was 12 and moved back to Hopi at a critical juncture in his development. He went from a place where there were all kinds of people to a place where there were far fewer kinds of people, and fewer people generally. And while he had a diverse background, no group knew quite what to make of him. Ever since he was 12 he has been building those relationships with people and learning how to do so with a wide array of people. He’s also been reconciling who he is through his personal experience, too.

This conversation did not follow the usual journey of someone’s life because it involved life tangents and going down various rabbit holes. It all flows well, and is a great conversation, but we cover more than just Jose’s personal journey.

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We also discuss:

• Why Jose started his business.
• The genesis of his podcast, and the impact it’s had on him.
• Why we both enjoy the UFC and diving deeper into the stories of martial artists.
• Our experience building relationships with guests on our podcasts.
• Why it’s important to make mistakes, even when interviewing Ambassadors.

“Give yourself six months and do the one thing that absolutely terrifies you.”

Sooner Davenport’s official bio

Sooner Davenport is Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, Kiowa and Navajo. She was born in Shiprock, New Mexico and currently lives in the Oklahoma City area. She graduated with her Bachelor's from Oklahoma City University and pursued  graduate studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth's Master of Tribal Administration and Governance program. Davenport is a passionate advocate for quality education, child welfare, multiculturalism and sensible economic policies.

In 2014, Davenport was selected to the prestigious Native American Political Leadership Program in Washington DC. It was there that she served as a policy assistant for the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. She returned from this experience at the US Department of Education determined to continue policy work in Oklahoma. Her work with tribal governments includes the areas of taxation, economic development, oil & gas, renewable energy and government accountability. She has also completed an internship for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

Currently, she works in the non-profit sector building public awareness around the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault in communities throughout Oklahoma. She is involved in many projects and organizations, the latest of her endeavors is her campaign for the Oklahoma House of Representatives in District 43.   

In this episode we discuss:

• How Sooner got her name
• Running cross-country in college
• Sooner’s ability to make tough decisions
• The importance of self-awreness
• “Following your passion” vs. being passionate about a job
• Native American Political Leadership Program
• Sooner’s healing journey and how she works to help others along their journey
• Sooner’s involvement in various non-profits, and Native Max Magazine
• Her candidacy for Oklahoma State House District 43

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“Our voices will not be centered unless we fight for Native voices to be heard.”

Dr. Adrienne Keene (Cherokee) will begin a position at Brown University this fall as a tenure track Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department. She also is the author of Native Appropriations, her website that “is a forum for discussing representations of Native peoples including stereotypes, cultural appropriations, news, activism and more.” Each of these accomplishments alone is impressive. The fact that Keene accomplished both in recent years is pretty amazing.

I was excited to have Keene on NextGen Native. Given her experience in academia, and her blog often being the first insight many have into Native cultures, she has a unique position in Indian Country. Most of you probably know her work, but I was excited to learn more about Keene as an individual and her personal journey.

Keene grew up in Southern California. During the summers, her family would make trips back to visit the Cherokee Nation. It was in high school where she first experienced interactions with people based on their perceptions of what a Native person should be, and not what Native people are. After acceptance into Stanford University, people questioned whether she “deserved” admission into the school or whether she was accepted because of her tribal citizenship.

She dove into academics and the Native community once on campus. Keene thought she was heading towards work in a museum, but she gradually realized that her interests were skewing towards ethnic studies and education. After graduating, she spent some time working in academic admissions. This is where Keene really found her inspiration for her next step.

While working in admissions, Adrienne Keene decided she wanted to pursue her Ph.D in education. She realized while traveling through Indian Country there was a lack of data and information about Native Americans in the education system. She enrolled at Harvard and began her research. It was during a shopping trip that Keene’s second project presented itself to her. It was in a store that she realized she needed to create Native Appropriations.

A trip to Urban Outfitters “inspired” Keene’s first blog post. That was in 2010. That’s a long time in Internet time. She’s built a great following, forced difficult conversations, and provided a voice for Native peoples across the country around an issue that began to find its focus around the same time.

I’ve constantly wondered how she keeps the energy to write on the topics she covers through Native Appropriations. But in the course of our conversation I realized that her experience is what many of us experience on a regular basis! She endures it through the magnifying lens of the Internet. But she’s not alone in her experience.

Keene recently completed her Ph.D and is beginning her new post later this year. What’s kind of cool is to hear how her blog and her academic work have merged in certain areas, and how the blog will evolve in the future.

No blog post will do this conversation, or Keene’s experience, justice. So, I’m going to to finish by saying you need to listen.  

A few resources discussed in this episode:

College Horizons

Op-Ed Project

Overcoming impostor syndrome

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

Graduate Horizons

Tricks for fancy dinner etiquette

Carina Miller on NextGen Native

Natives in America

Carina Miller on success: “Why are we accepting that [success] is not something that is part of an Indian identity?”

Carina Miller has a unique skill set. She is committed to making her community a better place. She has the drive and persistence to see tough projects/times/conversations through. And, perhaps most importantly, her communication skills are excellent. The communication piece helps her explain her ideas and goals to others, even in difficult meetings, in a way that shows both respect for the individual, with conviction for her beliefs and values.

Carina is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. She recently ran for tribal council, and was elected. I do not typically have many members of councils on the show because I think it is important to showcase those that serve and contribute to our communities in other ways, too. (note: this is not saying councils do not do so) But Carina’s campaign caught my eye on social media. Specifically, Carina’s reasons for running for tribal council. I even shared one of her Facebook posts last year on the NextGen Native page because of how moved I was by her thoughts.

So she ran for council, and she won. Seeing a young woman elected to council was awesome! But it wasn’t always easy. Carina discusses the different, difficult conversations she engaged during the campaign. One of the common refrains (listen to the episode for more background) was that she was “too white” for council. The most disturbing part was not the statement itself but what really lay below the statement. Carina dug, and people acknowledged that it was that she had been successful in her ventures that they believed to be non-Native.  

I really hope that we can find our own versions of success, that we do not shun it for fear of it being something other than Native. Carina is working on that in her community. We need more people like Carina.

We go deep on a variety of issues around being Native, striving for success, and working to make positive change in our communities. It’s a conversation that is worth listening to multiple times.

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“You need to savor, truly savor the life that you built for yourself...it’s the worst thing to have a beautiful life and not be able to appreciate it.”

Jaclyn Roessel is Navajo. She grew up on the Navajo Nation and attended Arizona State University. She is the Education and Public Programs Director for the Heard Museum. She also writes the blog Grown Up Navajo, hosts a podcast called Schmooze: Lady Connected and Presence 4.0.

As you can tell, Jaclyn is very busy. But she does it all because she has a passion for creativity and for creating and supporting positivity in Indian Country. Jaclyn’s energy is infectious and her story is not one to miss.

• Jaclyn’s support as a child from parents and grandparents that fostered her creativity.
• How that support helped Jaclyn become a doer.
• How Jaclyn’s decision to attend ASU positioned her to work for the Heard Museum.
• Managing the temptation to ask “what if?” on past decisions or events.
• Taking care of yourself, especially if you want to take care of others.
• Growing personally so you can continue to provide for others as their needs grow and change.
• How an unpaid internship at the Heard Museum evolved into full time work.
• How/why we both read “self-help” type books.
• Float tanks
• Meditation/mindfulness
• Why Jaclyn embraces her nickname “Glamhippy”
• How Jaclyn became a museum curator by responding to a call for ideas, which eventually became Confluence: Inter-generational Collaborations
• Jaclyn’s preference for the term “challenges” instead of “problems” when discussing different issues in Indian Country.
• The inspiration for Grown Up Navajo.
• Jaclyn’s challenge to other NextGen Natives: 1) write a love letter to someone, anyone 2) think about ways we can be content creators.

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On this episode, I share some of

NextGen Native has been around

Jared Yazzie

Jared Yazzie created OXDX

Jessica Metcalfe & Beyond

Another leader of the fashion

Lawyers in the News

Nikke Alex is a third-year law

The other legal news is from

Heading to GON? Consider

This weekend, ABQ is the place

Kraynal Alfred is Navajo. Originally from Tuba City, she moved around as a child. She spent time both in Oakland, CA and Atlanta, GA. Eventually she attended Georgia State University. She’s worked for the National Congress of American Indians, National Indian Health Board, the Speaker of the Navajo Nation, and currently at the Native American Political Leadership Program.

Kraynal has been able to utilize several program to facilitate her educational and professional development. Those programs have taken her to Yale for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, the Kennedy School of Government in Boston, and soon to Tucson for her Ph.D  at the University of Arizona.

As a recipient of various programs, Kraynal now gets to give back. Kraynal has been able to develop the Native American Political Leadership Program. The program recently launched the Richard M. Milanovich Fellowship. The fellowship is named after the former long-time Chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. To learn more about the fellowship, listen to the article and check out the website (below).

In this episode we discuss:

Resources:

For all the details, listen to the episode. You can also listen on:

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What did you think of this episode format? Do you like the mix up to hear about these topics in addition to the regular interview  based episodes? Let me know by leaving a comment.

As always, you can find NextGen Native on Facebook and Twitter.

A change up to the normal show, here we share three different resources or ideas that have impacted me recently:

Links and resources:

Investment Philosophy

Magic of compound interest

Stress Test

Vice documentary on Wim Hoff

Conversation with Victor Rocha