Lummi Nation · Based in Southern California
I connect businesses and non-profits with tribal nations — and I help tribes find partners who respect their sovereignty, honor their communities, and mean what they say. Twenty-five years of relationships across Indian Country, and a tribal entrepreneur’s eye for what a partnership needs to last.
25 years
Building trusted relationships across tribal, business and non-profit sectors
Lummi Nation
Coast Salish — a tribal entrepreneur, rooted at home
Tribal-first
Sovereignty, protocol and community voice at the center
Long game
Partnerships built to outlast leadership changes and grant cycles
Who I am
I am a tribal entrepreneur from the Lummi Nation. For twenty-five years I have built relationships — in council chambers, at economic development tables, and in the rooms where a good idea either becomes a real partnership or quietly goes away.
That network is the work. I know who to talk to, in what order, and how to arrive with the humility and protocol a nation expects. I also know which businesses and non-profits have earned the right to be there, and which ones still have work to do before they knock.
Tribal communities are not waiting to be saved. They are governing, building, and investing in their own futures. My role is to bring the right partners into that work — prepared, honest, and committed to the community’s own definition of progress.
Progress for a tribal nation is defined by that nation. My job is to make sure the partner is worthy of it.
How I help
Whether you are a business, a non-profit, or a nation deciding who to trust, the work is the same: the right people, the right protocol, and a partnership that means something after the announcement.
You see real opportunity in partnership with tribal nations, and you do not want to become another cautionary tale. I help you understand the landscape, meet the right people in the right order, and build something that survives a change in leadership.
Your nation has a vision — housing, energy, workforce, a new enterprise — and no patience for partners who waste your time. I bring a network built over twenty-five years of businesses and non-profits I know will treat your community with respect and honor, and I help you hold them to it.
Grant cycles end. Relationships should not. I help mission-driven organizations move from “working with tribes” to being genuinely answerable to the communities they serve — with programs, agreements and follow-through that hold up.
Podcast & workshops
The same knowledge I bring into a partnership conversation every week — on the record, and inside your team.
Daily podcast
I bring the audience the latest sovereignty stories that shape policy and the future of tribal nations.
Watch on YouTubeFor businesses
I teach sovereignty 101 workshops that bring this knowledge to the businesses who do business with tribal nations.
How I work
Before any introduction is made, these are the questions I am asking — of your organization, and of myself.
01
Tribal nations are governments, not markets. Every conversation starts there, and every partnership is measured against it.
02
The right introduction, in the right order, to the right people. That is not a delay — it is the work that makes everything after it possible.
03
I am not here to close a transaction and disappear. I stay through the negotiation, the misunderstanding, and the long middle.
04
Success is what a nation says it is — not what a business plan, a funder, or a consultant decides for them.
What working together looks like
We start with where you are: what you are trying to build, who is affected, and who needs to be at the table before anything else happens.
I bring the right people into the room — prepared, briefed, and clear on protocol, so the first meeting is not spent recovering from a bad one.
The hard part comes after the introduction. I stay for the negotiation, the misunderstandings, and the years of follow-through.
Start here
Tell me who you are and what you are hoping to build. I will respond personally — usually within two business days — and tell you honestly whether I am the right person to help.