In celebration of National Native American and Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month, OppNet honors three individuals who have dedicated their careers to the empowerment and recognition of their communities in the United States and in Canada. With their wide range of expertise and experiences—including social media activism, storytelling, STEM, and the arts—those profiled below work to increase representation and raise awareness of the issues facing Native and Indigenous Peoples.
Michelle Chubb
Social Media Influencer & Beading Artist | Cree
At 300,000 followers, TikToker Michelle Chubb (@indigenous_baddie) uses her platform to highlight issues facing Native and Indigeneous young people, to raise awareness and educate both her own community and non-Indigenous people. While the videos include material typical of TikTok content, such as music and humor, the topics she tackles are meaningful. She has touched on issues such as reservation life, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, land rights, and water protection. A lifelong resident of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, 22-year-old Michelle has leveraged her growing social media platform to highlight her social justice work and activism, and to connect with other young Native and Indigenous people doing similar work. She shares parts of her life to illustrate how she and her community—and other Native and Indigenous communities—continue to honor their heritage in engaging, accessible ways. For example, Michelle is currently working as a full-time beading artist, and performs as a jingle dress dancer, which she shares on her social channels. She hopes to become a model, to inspire girls and women to embrace their traditionally Indigenous features.
Aaron Yazzie
Mechanical Engineer | Diné/Navajo
November of 2018 was a big month for Aaron Yazzie. As the InSight robot landed, the then 30-year-old became part of an elite club of engineers who could say they had put an unmanned rover onto Mars. Aaron began working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in September 2008 after graduating from Stanford University with a degree in mechanical engineering. Growing up in Arizona, Aaron always had a knack for building things, and was encouraged by his mother and father who worked as a math teacher and as a civil engineer for the Arizona Department of Transportation, respectively. Through the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) from high school, Aaron was able to obtain a scholarship to college and internships. A lesson in the value of networking, through one of his internships, Aaron initially connected with a NASA recruiter for the program he would ultimately end up working at post-college graduation. Responsible for building flight hardware, Aaron is currently on a team seeking to launch another Rover to Mars after the pandemic. He spends spare time working within his community, helping to lead the NASA-Navajo summer camp, and speaking at conferences and recruitment events for organizations like AISES and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).
Joy Harjo
United States Poet Laureate, Musician & Playwright | Muscogee Creek
As the twenty-third Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo is the first Native American to hold the honor, and recently has been appointed to a rare third term by the Library of Congress. Joy’s poetry, short stories, books and plays often explores feminism, social justice, and traditional storytelling against the backdrop of Native and Indigenous communities and contexts. Her extensive catalogue of work is often credited with providing critical counter-narratives to mainstream American history. Joy has been the recipient of dozens of honors including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas, the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and more. In addition to her writing, Joy is also a noted musician, having released five award-winning albums featuring her saxophone and flute performances accompanying other Native and Indigenous artists. Joy is an alumnus of the Institute of American Indian Arts, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Iowa’s master’s program in creative writing. She currently resides in her hometown, Tulsa, Oklahoma where she is chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and runs an arts mentorship program for Native and Indigenous women. She is also the founding Board Member of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.
