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[ Report ] Native Action Network's inspiring International Women's Day Luncheon
03/08/2024
Big Water is honored to have been a part of Native Action Network (NAN)'s inspiring International Women's Day Luncheon on March 8th, 2024. The event, a celebration of Native women's accomplishments and leadership, was the perfect opportunity to unveil the Native Women's Leadership Report, the culmination of two years of work to understand and share the leadership goals, programming needs, and challenges faced by Native women aspiring to leadership positions throughout the state of Washington.
Created by and for Native women, the project will inform Native Action Network's future programming to ensure it is best serving these up-and-coming Native leaders, and will hopefully serve as a jumping-off point for future work in this area.
NAN founder Iris Friday introduced the report, and Big Water's Chloe Adler shared an overview of the findings of the report with event attendees, many of whom contributed to the project. Chloe's presentation provided insights on the goals, most pressing needs, challenges, and accomplishments of project respondents, highlighting Native women's leadership interests and invaluable contributions across diverse sectors.
This presentation was followed by the centerpiece of the event: panel discussions between Debora Juarez (Blackfeet), former Seattle City Council President and Anna Bean (Puyallup), Puyallup Tribal Council Member; and between Boo Balkan Foster (Apache), Educator, Seattle Public Schools Native Education Department; Sarah Stafford (Seneca Nation), Senior Tribal Specialist, Dept. of HHS; and Falisha McCloud (Puyallup), Business Owner of Arch Brow; moderated by Native Action Network President Melanie Montgomery.
These inspiring women from the worlds of city government, tribal leadership, education, state policy, and business shared their insights and advice for Native women pursuing leadership roles across these fields, and their stories of their own journeys to where they are today.
Their encouragement to Native women to take up space, make themselves visible, find the people who support them, and make their voices heard in spite of institutional barriers and pushback was a powerful reminder that attendees can carry well beyond International Women's Month.
Thank you to Native Action Network, the panelists, and everyone who made the event and report a success.