Young Leaders

Colby WhiteThunder (Mentor)

Alabama-Coushatta / Omaha

Hello! I’m Colby WhiteThunder, a member of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. I’m 24 years old. I work as an youth aid for my tribe’s youth programs.

I also supervise the tribes youth council, which I was also a part of while growing up. I hope to make the most of this position with the TYRC.

Isabella N. Fridia

Hanhe Wi Iyoyanpa Win (Bright Shining Moon Woman)
Wichita, Kiowa, Caddo, Hunka Oglala Lakota

Isabella Fridia is an undergraduate student at the University of Denver. She is majoring in Physiology in Health and Disease and working towards minors in  Kinesiology and Medical Physics. Along with being a Young Leader for TYRC, Isabella serves on the Executive Board for the Native Student Alliance at DU. She is very involved with her community and has had several other internships related to working with and for youth. 

Ms. Fridia is grounded in Indigenous culture and spirituality and is dedicated to preserving and promoting her culture and language. She is also an advocate for mental health and wellness throughout Indian Country. Isabella wants to continue her journey in higher education and complete a doctorate program in physical therapy. Her dream is to promote wellness within tribal communities by incorporating both traditional and western medicine.

James John II

Kipnuk Traditional Council

My name is James John II, my Yupik name is Cikigaq. I am from Kipnuk, AK where I was raised by my mother & grandparents. I have an older brother & a younger half brother. I graduated from the Chief Paul Memorial School at the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD). I have attended a couple boarding schools at Galena, AK in the Galena Interior Learning Academy for my sophomore year. Then for my junior & half my senior year I have attended the Kuskokwim Learning Academy in Bethel, AK where they honored me as a University of Alaska Scholar & a Valedictorian. I did not want to graduate in Bethel, so I went to my hometown to graduate in the spring semester.

Furthermore, after high school I started a full time Job & I worked with LKSD as a Residential Supervisor. Soon later, I applied to go college at the Kuskokwim University Campus in Bethel, AK. And I have attended college for part of the spring semester. I have enjoyed spending my time off working & helping my grandparents with anything they desired. Especially Subsistence like gathering berries to keep for the winter, going egg hunting out in the tundra wilderness, and I have gone fishing with my grandfather. I have traveled out of my hometown to go to a different village so I can gather other things like blackberries, herring eggs on kelp & seaweed. I am also a baker. I bake cakes, decorate them & sell them locally or around my area. I have started doing this when I was about 14 years old and I am continuing this to this day. In my younger days, I have been a volunteer for Youth Groups at the church and helping the community keep clean (they call it Clean Up Green Up). My grandmother would tell me to help others so I continue doing that. So may these words that I have put on here help to show who I am, may they tell you some part of life story, and where my heart and hands were made to type these words on the system to give to you.

Kaitlin Martinez (Mentor)

O’odham and Dine

My O’odham name is Ju:kiMad (translates to rain baby but that is the word we use for Ladybug), my English name is Kaitlin Martinez. I am a proud O’odham and Dine woman from Sacaton Arizona on the Gila River Indian Community. I come from a long line of ranchers and cowboys who have shaped me into the person I am today. With strong mentors with knowledge of my culture and language, I work to continue speaking and learning my language.

I am 25 years old and a Tribal Governance major at Salish Kootenai College. My passions include being of service to my community elders and children. I recently got involved with language 3 years ago. Now I can see firsthand what it takes to teach the next generation of young speakers, with the help of my amazing mentors. When I started doing this work,I had the opportunity to reflect on my experience as a child. I didn’t have too many people I could refer to when it came to speaking or even learning my language. I want to change that; I knew who my target audience would be–the eager youth in my community. That is exactly what we have done, even in the middle of a pandemic were able to reach so many young people and make lifelong impacts on their life using our similar interests, learning and preserving our language. What an honor it is to be in this kind of work, I always knew I wanted to be involved in my community, but in a different light.

I wanted to use my passion to drive something different. With the help of my mentors and boss I hope to create software programs that are native language inclusive. With our goals and aspirations, we can dream big, with our drive to better our communities we will succeed.

Sam Schimmel

Kenaitze Indian and Siberian Yupik Eskimo

Sam is St. Lawrence Island Siberian Yupik and Kenaitze Indian from Kenai, Alaska. From as far back as he can remember, he keeps life lessons front and center. “Listen to your elders, listen to your people, listen to stories told to you”. Sam uses Native Knowledge to influence and direct local as well as national community efforts to better the lives of Alaska Natives and American Indians. He grew up berry picking, subsistence hunting, and fishing.  He was a 2017 Center For Native American Youth Champion for Change. In 2018 he was appointed by the Governor of Alaska to serve on the State of Alaska’s Climate Action Leadership Team, where he helped craft the state’s policy on climate change. In 2019 the National Congress of American Indians recognized him with the Youth Leadership Award. In 2020 he was awarded the Alaska Federation of Native’s Presidents Youth Leadership Award. In 2021 Sam launched Operation Fish Drop, a program which sought to give urban Native populations access to traditional foods during the Covid 19 pandemic. Sam graduated from Stanford University in 2022. He continues to be an invested member of his community, supporting and often directing positive change for Alaska Native and American Indians. He spent his 1L summer Clerking for the Alaska Native Justice Center, and is now in his second year of Law School at Georgetown University.

Anagali (Shace) Duncan

ᎠᎾᎦᎵ a-na-ga-li (lightening)

Keetoowah, Muskogee Creek, Seneca 

Anagali (Shace) Duncan was born and raised on the Cherokee reservation. He is a current Junior at Stanford University studying Native American Studies. He is passionate about indigenous education equity and environmental justice. He has spoken at various places that include the White House tribal youth forum and the United Nations. He has worked on many projects that include building an ecological knowledge garden, and advocating for Indian Child Welfare. He is a current intern with the Tribal Law and Policy Institute where he works on mitigating jurisdictional conflicts with tribal, federal and state courts.  He has been working with the Tribal Youth Resource Center for the past three years. He aspires to step into the realm of policy-making and education. His vision is to create a world where indigenous youth can flourish in environments that have long marginalized them. His goal is to make meaningful contributions to his community through all that he does.

Sydney Matheson (Mentor)

Colville Confederated Tribes

My name is Sydney Matheson. I am 26 years old and my pronouns are she/her. I am a Tribal Youth Resource Center Young Leaders Mentor. I am an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. My traditional homelands range from central Washington State up into Southern British Columbia. I live in Spokane, WA. I have a degree in criminal justice and have studied subjects such as juvenile justice at Georgetown University and Tribal Leadership at Harvard Business School. I am currently majoring in public policy and minoring in social justice & human rights through Arizona State University Online. Behind the scenes I am a Certified Nursing Assistant and an Emergency Medical Technician, soon to be licensed Master Esthetician. I enjoy spending time learning, and with traditional knowledge being just as vital to this attribute I spend much of my free time mastering traditional arts such as storytelling, basket weaving, and regalia making. 

Devin Hernandez

Oglala Lakota

Devin Hernandez is 18 years old and originates from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. She belongs to the Oglala Lakota tribe and has been deeply rooted in activism and human right advocacy from a very young age. Currently attending the University of Denver’s as a freshman, she plans to get her BA in both Socio-legal studies and Critical Race Theory and a minor in English.

Misty Sandoval

Navajo and Seminole

Ya’áá’tééh (Hello), my name is Misty Sandoval, and I am of the Big Water (Tǫ́’tsǫ́’níí) clan and born for the Bitter water (Tǫ́’di’ch’íí’níí) clan. I am Navajo and Seminole, and I am 21 years old and identify as a Diné Two-Spirit woman. I was born and raised in a small rural community on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, called Whitehorse Lake. I am also a student at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado pursuing a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in Public Health. I advocate for Indigenous rights across the country and also support the youth who identify as Two-Spirit/LGBTQIA+.