Directors
Corrina Gould
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(Ohlone) Corrina Gould is the tribal spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan. Born and raised in her ancestral homeland, the territory of Huchiun, she is the mother of three and grandmother of four. Corrina has worked on preserving and protecting the sacred burial sites of her ancestors throughout the Bay Area for decades.
Johnella LaRose
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(Shoshone Bannock/Carrizo) Johnella LaRose is a lifelong activist. She is the Co-Founder of Indian People Organizing for Change, a grassroots organization that advocates for the Indigenous community. Johnella is a graduate of Mills College with a degree in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology.
Staff
Deja Goud
Land Team Member
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Born and raised in her traditional territory in the East Bay, in the village of Huchiun. Deja is a core member of the administrative office team and a land team lead. Deja is the Chochenyo language carrier for her Tribe the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, she enjoys bringing her children to the land to connect with soil and life around them, seed save and learn about traditional plant use.
Victoria Montaño
Land Team Member
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Vick (They/Them) is a first generation, Indigequeer, Yoe’me (Yaqui), Mexikah, born and raised in the Village of Huchiun/ East Oakland.
Vick is a Po-scholar, Storyteller, interdisciplinary artist focussing on Indigenous Solidarity across seas and false man made borders, Queer liberation, Land Back, reawakening and reclamation of ancestral knowledge.
Vick was asked to join Sogorea Te’ in 2017 where they had an opportunity to put their hands in the soil for the first time. Currently, you can find them amongst the flowers as a Land Restoration Team Lead and our Food Distribution Program. Their creative work has uplifted the work of STLT with such pieces as “Land Acknowledgments are NOT Reparations”, “Hands of our Medicine” , and numerous timeless photography.
Inés Ixierda
Art and Media
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Inés is an interdisciplinary Mestizx artist and media maker with a background in youth work, decolonial nonprofit administration, and community organizing. She leads STLT’s art and media, coordinates projects, organizes events, and works on the land with plant medicines.
Kinłichii’nii Poncho
Land Team Member
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Kinłichii’nii is a member of the Navajo Nation and Acoma Pueblo tribes. He is out on the land leading construction, water catchment, and solar power projects. In addition to this work, Kinłichii’nii has been a community organizer in the Bay Area since 1998.
Cha-tah Ellem
Land Team Member
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Born and raised in his ancestral village of Huchiun, Cha-Tah is an actor and filmmaker working on increasing Ohlone and Native representation within film and media. He assists with tribal work.
Bernadette “BZ”
Seed Rematriator and Land Team Member
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At Lisjan, Bernadette leads our seed saving and processing. She moved to California from Colorado because she was drawn to plants and wildlife and is now passing on her experiences and knowledge to the rest of the land team.
Ariel Luckey
Development Director
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Born and raised in Huchiun/Oakland, Ariel is an interdisciplinary artist and activist. His people are Ashkenazi Jewish and white settlers and he organizes with Jews on Ohlone Land. He was part of the team that created the Shuumi Land Tax and works to support pathways of redistribution and Rematriation.
Cheyenne Zepeda
Himmetka Coordinator, Tribal Admin, and Land Team Member
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Born and raised in her ancestral village of Huchiun, Cheyenne is a Tribal member of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation. She has been working in the Native community all her life. She has worked with the youth, helped with organizing events, protesting for native/human rights, and advocated for native families in the east bay. While on the land she brings along her children. She continues to build relationships, strengthen her Tribal traditions, tends to the land, and prepares emergency hubs.
Windsor Taro
Land Team Member
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Windsor is a Pacific Islander and Army veteran who grew up in Tohono O’odham territory (now called Arizona ). They are passionate about growing food and education. They support food distribution, land care, and Himmteka (Water Catchment System) projects.
Eliana Hernandez
Youth Program Coordinator
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Born and raised in Concord CA, Eliana (Yaqui, Chicano, and Salvadorian) was involved in the native community growing up, from doing peace walks alongside her family to protests and community events. Eliana is a graduate of SFSU where she received degrees in both Criminal Justice and Race and Resistance along with a minor in Queer Ethnic Studies. She is passionate about empowering and helping the community, spending time with loved ones, and standing up for what’s right!
Rosa Domenech
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Rosa is Boricua, born and raised in the village of Huchiun.She provides support for the financial and administration dept. Her joy in life is closely related to family, music, cooking, traveling and puppies!
Sharon Marcos Mateo
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Office Administrator
Sharon is Q’anjob’al Maya who grew up in Tongva lands and currently resides in the Village of Huchiun. She grew up integrated within her community in the diaspora and is dedicated to the empowerment of her people through political education & language revitalization. She believes that Indigenous solidarity past colonial borders is needed for liberation.
Freidda Tucker
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Born and raised in her ancestral territory in the village of Huchiun, she is a Tribal member of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation. Freidda is a land team lead at Rammay, one of our gardens in West Oakland and helps to coordinate in our food distro program. She enjoys getting her hands in the soil, harvesting and working with traditional plants and learning about their uses.
Araceli Nunez Lee
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Araceli is a non-binary, undocumented artist and community organizer born in so called Mexico City and raised in the Bay Area. Araceli has been part of Bay Area organizing efforts for youth, students, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and working class communities of color.
As a life-long student, Araceli continues to expand their knowledge in ethnic studies, art history, visual arts, and communications. In their volunteering capacity, Araceli has led labor unionizing efforts, campaigns against deportations, and grassroots fundraising for community-led causes.
Board Members
Dr. Beth Rose Middleton Manning
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(Afro-Caribbean, Eastern European) — Beth Rose is an Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. Beth Rose is of Afro-Caribbean (Belizean, Jamaican, and Honduran) and Eastern European (Russian, Lithuanian) heritage, and was born and raised in rural northern California, specifically the Mokulumne watershed of the central Sierra Nevada foothills, Miwok country. Beth Rose’s research centers on Native environmental policy and Native activism for site protection using conservation tools. She is also the author of Trust in the Land, an analysis of Indigenous land trusts. She is engaged in participatory action research on Maidu land rights history and contemporary land claims in northeastern California. Beth Rose applies theories from coloniality of power, indigeneity, community development, political ecology, participatory methodologies, and geography. She has received research support from the National Science Foundation, the UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender, the UC Office of the President, and the Community Forestry and Environmental Research Partnerships program. Beth Rose’s ongoing and future research directions include California Native green entrepreneurship, using environmental statutes for cultural preservation, qualitative GIS mapping of Indian allotment lands, Afro-indigenous populations, the effects of hydropower development on Native lands, tribal resource conservation districts, and indigenizing natural resource policy and planning.
Dr. Joanne Barker
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(Lenape/Delaware Tribe of Indians) — Joanne is a professor and chair of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University where she has worked since 2003. She is the author of numerous books including Native Acts: Law, Recognition, and Cultural Authenticity, published by Duke University Press, and the editor of Sovereignty Matters: Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination, published by University of Nebraska Press. She is currently serving on The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust Board and The Critical Ethnic Studies Journal Board.
Kim DeOcampo
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(Tuolumne Mewuk, Houma-Choctaw) — Kim is Tuolumne Miwok and grew up in the Vallejo area and has worked extensively with the American Indian Bay Area community for over 30 years. She currently is the Director for the Sacred Sites Protection & Rights of Indigenous Tribes, SSP&RIT and is leading the fight for the erasure of Indian Mascots in local schools. Kim has worked for many years supporting the protection of sacred sites and Shellmounds in the Bay Area with Indian People Organizing for Change. She currently works for the local Scotts Valley TANF program, providing resources and training programs for Native people.
Dr. Melissa Nelson
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(Anishinaabe/Métis [Turtle Mountain Chippewa]) Melissa K. Nelson, PhD, is an ecologist, writer, editor, media-maker and indigenous scholar-activist. She has served as a Professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University since 2002 and as President of The Cultural Conservancy since 1993. Her work is dedicated to indigenous rights and revitalization, biocultural heritage protection and environmental justice, intercultural solidarity, and the renewal and celebration of community health and cultural arts. She actively advocates for Indigenous Peoples rights and sustainable lifeways in higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy and is particularly passionate about Indigenous food sovereignty at local, regional and global levels. She is the editor of and a contributor to Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future (2008), and co-editor of and contributor to Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning From the Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability (2018). Melissa is also the writer and host of the Native Seed Pod, a podcast dedicated to Indigenous science and Native foods. Melissa serves on the boards of directors of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and Slow Food Indigenous Terra Madre.
Julia Hernandez: In Memoriam
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(Lumbee/French Canadian) — Julia is a long-time activist on issues of social justice, environmental justice, defending the rights of our youth, and honoring and preserving our Native cultures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology as well as a BA degree in Criminology with a minor in Ethnic Studies from University of California, Berkeley. She has a Master’s degree in Counseling from California State University, Hayward and an advanced degree in Education Administration. Julia established Nueva Vista High School in the Mount Diablo Unified School District for students at risk of not graduating. She has been involved in Shellmound issues, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, AIM, IPOC, INMSF, Silver Buffalo Consortium, as well as working with significant others of Combat veterans with PTSD over many years. Julia is happily a great-grandmother of five.
