Member Bios
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Eunique Yazzie
Eunique is a Designer and a Co-founding Member whose roots are from Navajo Nation and emerges from Phoenix, Arizona. Her 19-year creative career has honed her technical skill, challenged perspectives, and established her artistic dimensions. If art imitates life, Eunique's palette breathes new life and purpose into the arts and culture community; she is a poet and storyteller with the Mujeres Del Sol collective; a board member of Roosevelt Row CDC; a working artist, muralist, and illustrator; founder of Indige Design Collab; and owner of euniQue Design LLC. Her creative work is centered around placemaking and placekeeping, emphasizing social impact design. She is a dynamic organizer, workshop facilitator, speaker, and art curator who is now pivoting towards tech. She currently works as a Creative Consultant and Application Analyst focusing on design systems, collaboration, and Indigenizing space.
IG: @euniqueink; @indigedesigncollab
FB: @euniquedesign; @IndigeDesignCollab
www.indigedesign.org
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Candace Hamana
Candace Hamana is Hopi and Dine. She is the founder and owner of Badger PR, Communication Strategies for the Fearless. Candace has over a decade of combined experience in program and business development, media relations, tribal stakeholder relations, crisis communications and political affairs. Her company's services include media relations, digital communication strategies, community relations and grant project management.
Candace graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor's degree in public relations and is presently working on her master's degree in Digital Audience Strategies at Arizona State University. She has served on the boards of the Public Relations Society of America Phoenix Chapter, Arizona Association of Economic Development, the Hopi Education Endowment Fund, and is presently communications director for the Buddy Whitethorne Foundation.
IG & FB: @hellobadgerpr
www.hellobadgerpr.comIG: @buddywhitethornefoundation
www.buddy.foundation -
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Brian Skeet
Brian is a multidisciplinary designer who strives to cultivate Indigenous initiatives through design, research, technology, and innovation. His work focuses on energizing future Indigenous creatives to cultivate culturally-centered solutions with Indigenous communities. Brian holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design/ Design Management and an Associate's degree in Graphic Design. Brian is also the Co-Creator and Designer for IndigeDesign Collab, Leader on the IDSA (Industrial Design Society of America) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, and Owner of Brian Skeet Design LLC. Brian Skeet is Diné/ Navajo born in Tuba City, Arizona, and raised on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
IG:
FB:
www.bskeetdesign.com
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Claudia López
Local Matriarch is an Indigenous womxn-led platform for storytelling and community building. Through rematriation they empower Indigenous womxn around the world with a community-first approach. They create a space where they celebrate the cultural intersections of their cosmovisions. They seek to restore the balance of the sacred femenine while recognizing other expressions of this energy including Two-Spirit, queer and non-binary. Their mission is to help Indigenous womxn in rural areas materialize legacy and preserve culture.
Local Matriarch is an emerging business co-founded by Tashena López, a Diné entrepreneur with a background in leadership and sustainability and her wife Claudia López, an Indigenous woman from México and a professional in the arts. Together, they partner with other Indigenous Matriarchs to revitalize and strengthen their communities while honoring their connection and commitment with the land.
IG & FB: @localmatriarch
www.localmatriarch.com -
Tashena López
Local Matriarch is an Indigenous womxn-led platform for storytelling and community building. Through rematriation they empower Indigenous womxn around the world with a community-first approach. They create a space where they celebrate the cultural intersections of their cosmovisions. They seek to restore the balance of the sacred femenine while recognizing other expressions of this energy including Two-Spirit, queer and non-binary. Their mission is to help Indigenous womxn in rural areas materialize legacy and preserve culture.
Local Matriarch is an emerging business co-founded by Tashena López, a Diné entrepreneur with a background in leadership and sustainability and her wife Claudia López, an Indigenous woman from México and a professional in the arts. Together, they partner with other Indigenous Matriarchs to revitalize and strengthen their communities while honoring their connection and commitment with the land.
IG & FB: @localmatriarch
www.localmatriarch.com -
Jesse Dorian Yazzie
I am a 28 year old Native American artist from Phoenix Arizona. My art is rooted in my experience and culture, being apart of the Navajo Nation as well as facing time incarcerated made my vision for art very vivid. Art has always been one of the most important parts of my life, but when I was featured on all the major media outlets for my murals and my story was told, I realized this could change my life. Now, I am a full time artist with numerous projects I’ve completed with some of the best artist that Phoenix has to offer.
IG @Jesse.Yazzie
FB @JessieYazzie
www.jesseyazzie.com
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Dustin Lopez
Dustin Lopez is Diné, Laguna Pueblo and Yaqui based in Phoenix, AZ. He is competitive, creative and loves to laugh. His passion for creativity can be traced back to his childhood, whether it was submitting a logo for a competition or developing an art magazine on his own time. He is passionate about storytelling and using multiple creative mediums to enhance the story.
“Since fourth grade I can remember drawing graffiti, characters, and letters, filling up page after page of designs while staring at my grandmother's weavings. I would often ask her where she came up with these designs and she would humbly respond, ‘in my head.’ I couldn't compete with her creativity but I would do my best to make her proud of my work inspired by our cultures, history, languages, and identity.”
Away from the creative desk he's committed to being a contributing member of IndigeDesign Collab and a full-time Firefighter in Northern Arizona. Founder and Designer of 'Mixtblood Streetwear', Dustin pushes to discover the creative solutions in being successful while being forced to live in different worlds.
Ambassador Bios
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Kevin McDowell
Kevin is a small town boy, trying to live a big city life. He is a LGBTQ community advocate and strives to support those who surround him. He is from the Ft. Mohave Indian Tribe and currently lives in Northern Phoenix. He enjoys cooking, spending time with family, and friends.
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Jeremy Arviso
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeremy is an enrolled member of the Navajo Tribe and also Hopi, Pima and Tohono O'odham. From a young age Jeremy was trained in the art of survival by his father’s side of his family, traditional Navajo farmers, silversmiths and weavers. He was immersed in agriculture and herded sheep with relatives, rode horses and swam in rivers and lakes. Harvesting the fruits of family labor and making long trips to sell crops his family worked hard to grow a sense of community and commerce. He honed his craft laying groundwork to become the multidisciplinary artist he is. Through design, fashion, dance, music, film and visual art he expressed himself and was awarded grants to travel the World, cast in a New Line Cinema film, and curated gallery shows in San Francisco. Jeremy would learn fashion merchandising at Barney’s New York, and paint his biggest murals while designing the interior staircase and hallways of the Friendship House Association of American Indians. He currently operates his fashion, design, and art business from Phoenix, Az.
IG: @rvso78
FB: @jeremy.arviso
www.rvso78.com