I am Diné (“the people” in Navajo), and I grew up in a border town near the Navajo Reservation called Gallup, New Mexico. I am Todik’ozhi (Salt Water Clan) and Nat’oh Taachii’nii (Tobacco of the Red Running into the Water People). Through my clans is how I identify as a Diné male and how I recognize relationships to all things around me. I currently reside in Gallup, New Mexico, still. I like to say that I am “forever an uncle,” and I enjoy spending time with my nieces and nephews. 

Over the last seven years, I have worked in nonprofit organizations (locally, regionally, and nationally) with a strong emphasis on public health. At the same time, I was attending graduate school to expand my knowledge about public health practices. I have enjoyed the spaces I got to sit in and the constant use of Western public health practices through my bodies of work, but a portion of me felt like I was doing more damage than good. Oftentimes, I would find myself educating others about my Diné way of life and hoping they would have some level of understanding of where I was coming from. Through that experience, I realized that I wanted to center my lived experience with my work and with a community that understands where I am coming from.