Building the Fire Fund

Yá’áhtééh, my name is Amanda Singer and my clans are Náneesht’ézhi Táchínííi (The Charcoal-Streaked Division of the Red Running into the Water Clan) born for Honághááníí (One-Walks-Around-clan). I am a Navajo woman originally from Coalmine, NM and currently living in Fort Defiance, Arizona. I have been married to my husband, Davin Singer for 21 years and we have 4 beautiful children: Bradley, Roger, Micah, and Nizhoni. I support Navajo families as a Certified Lactation Counselor, Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor and Lactation advocate for the past 16 years and as a Navajo doula/birth keeper for the past 3 years. I currently serve in the capacity as the Executive Director for the Navajo Breastfeeding Coalition/Dine Doula Collective. My support services are virtual Navajo Nationwide, and my in-person support is in Window Rock, Arizona, and surrounding communities.

Carly Hare (Pawnee/Yankton) is committed to advancing equity and community engagement. She is a proud mother, daughter, sister, auntie, partner, friend, and equity advocate. Her Pawnee name is <i kita u hoo <i ]a hiks, ‘kind leader of men’.

Carly joined Colorado Health Foundation as a portfolio director in 2023. Most recently, Hare served as the executive director of Culture Surge. Previously, Hare navigated the intersections of philanthropy and equity as the Coalition Catalyst/National Director of CHANGE Philanthropy and led Native Americans in Philanthropy as its Executive Director. She has also held the positions of Director of Development for the Native American Rights Fund and Director of Programs for Community Foundation Boulder County.

Carly currently is serving on the following nonprofit boards: Indigenous Women’s Advisory Council for the Building the Fire Fund,  Impact on Education, Common Counsel Foundation, Women’s Foundation of Colorado, Pawnee Evening Star Fund, Equity in the Center and the Racial Justice Advisory COuncil for the Hewlett Foundation. In 2021, Hare chaired the Colorado Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission. 

Carly Hare is known for balancing grace with grit, filling a room with her generous laugh and powerful lulu. She spends her free time enjoying Colorado with her 4 year old daughter and husband and traveling back to Oklahoma to spend time with her family. Carly is always up for a board game, movie or karaoke night.

Charon Asetoyer, M.A., (Comanche), Native women’s health advocate, CEO & Founder of the Native American Community Board located on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The organization is known for Indigenous women’s rights locally, nationally and internationally. The NACB has published reports and policy papers on Indigenous women’s health. International work includes consultations with WHO’s Global AIDS program under the late Dr. Jonathan Mann, addressing the UN Human Rights Commission Geneva on the status of Indigenous Peoples, participation in Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, participation in various International forums.

August 2001, facilitated UN Working Group on “The Current Status of Health of the World’s Indigenous Peoples”, for the High Commission on Human Rights. Participates in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, appointed and confirmed by President Clinton’s Administration to the National Advisory Council for Health and Human Services, has served on NEJAC for US EPA and many other Boards. Charon has a long list of publications.

Dr. Christina M. Castro (Taos Pueblo/Jemez Pueblo/Chicana) was born in Southern California from a family who participated in the federal Indian Relocation program. She currently resides in O’ga P’ogeh, Santa Fe, NM within her traditional homelands. She is a mother, writer, farmer, scholar, educator, community organizer, multidimensional artist, public speaker and more. 

In 2017, Dr. Castro co-founded Three Sisters Collective (3SC), an Indigenous-women centered grassroots organization devoted to art, activism, education and community building. She received her Doctorate from the Pueblo PhD Program at Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation and Justice Studies in 2018 and is an independent consultant with Castro Consulting, LLC.

Dr. Sanchez (she/her) has contributed to building Indigenous Knowledge through her work with Tewa Women United for the past 30 years, including co-creation of TWU’s research methodology and the Theory of Opide, a braiding of practice to action. She has extensive training and experience in the fields of sexual assault prevention, educational awareness, advocacy, and trauma informed care. Dr. Sanchez has presented at many national conferences on Sexual Assault in Indian Country, Advocacy Needs of Native Sexual Assault Survivors, Forensic Interviewing of Native Children, and Child Witness to Violence.

Dr. Sanchez currently serves on the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Advisory Council and is a Board member of the Attach Your Heart Foundation. Most recently, she has been selected to serve on the Governor of New Mexico’s Advisory Council on Racial Justice.

Danielle Brewster, an Indigenous two-spirit feminist and a community organizer, educator, and activist fighting for reproductive justice. Danielle focuses on cultivating and growing advocacy using a social justice approach to community organizing. Grounded in an intersectional feminist lens and lived experience, she is committed to centering communities of color, LGBT, queer and Indigenous youth. She is a community leader within the most marginalized communities with limited access to health care and social services. 

Danielle is the Public Relations Director of Women’s Health Specialists and Program Director of Northstate Women’s Health Network Native Youth Project helping to develop, implement and administrate operations agency-wide. An experienced facilitator who fiercely deconstructs taboos and stigmas around sexual and reproductive health, she facilitates sessions on HIV/AIDS, two-spirit health, youth leadership development, sexual health, abortion access, suicide prevention and cultural enrichment. 

Danielle serves on the Board of Directors for Women’s Health Specialists, is the California Regional Representative of the National Native HIV Network, servers on the advisory committee for Essential Access Health Title X project along with other local organizing and advocacy groups.  She is also a co-founder of the young adult leadership project Intertwined, an empowerment space organized for youth by youth. 

Danielle was honored by the Redding Record Searchlight and Simpson College with the Emerging Leaders 20 Under 40 Award. She was also chosen by Girls Inc. as the recipient of the Strong, Smart and Bold Award for her continuing leadership.

Eileen Briggs (she/her/they) is a community leader who has built a career helping people and places grow. An enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Eileen has deep roots in the mid-west region and a strong network of leaders nationally and internationally focused on self-determination and liberation. She works remotely from her home in Eagle Butte, SD at the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. Her lived experience of rural and native communities fuels her commitment to open every door, so these communities can continue to grow and thrive.

Eileen leads with 25 years’ experience in management in non-profits, tribal government and philanthropy. Currently, Eileen is a Grantmaking Director at the Bush Foundation leading Native strategy across all program areas.  A skilled facilitator, public speaker, and strategist, she serves in leadership roles with the Minneapolis American Indian Center, Native Nations Institute International Advisory Council and Native American in Philanthropy. Eileen is a Bush Fellow, Native Nation Rebuilder, Leadership South Dakota Alum and holds both a bachelor and master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

Katrina Maczen-Cantrell (she/her) is a member of the Western Shoshone Nation, Feminist, and alumna of California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. Cantrell serves as Executive Director of Women’s Health Specialists, an independent feminist women’s health center serving individuals with comprehensive reproductive health care in rural Northern California.  Cantrell’s strong feminist values have propelled her to work on many local and state campaigns for individuals and groups who keep Indigenous rights, people’s rights, environmental rights, civil rights, and LGBTQI+ rights in the forefront. Cantrell is unwavering in her support of abortion access, and women’s constitutionally protected rights to make decisions regarding their pregnancies. Cantrell is a founding member of the non-profit Northstate Women’s Health Network, which upholds economic and reproductive justice within northern California by developing programs that support local individuals, and encourages them to work internationally as a community-based reproductive health ally.  Cantrell also serves as President for the Native American Health Education Resource Center in South Dakota; Board Member for SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective; and is a former Board member of the National Women’s Health Network, in Washington, DCN, and the National Network of Abortion Funds. Cantrell is a Rockwood Leadership Institute Alum.

Malia (she/her) is a co-founder of Indigenous Women Rising, a Native women’s abortion fund. She brings experience and expertise on what it means to provide resources to women who need abortions. The organization she co-founded is the only one of its kind serving Native women in the country.

I am a descendent of the Table Mountain Rancheria Chukchansi Tribe in California. I have over 6 years of research analyst experience. I have assisted in providing training, technical assistance, program support and data analysis /interpretation for 2 federally funded domestic violence initiatives. I also have extensive experience working with children and youth as a behavioral health professional. I have provided in-home and community-based support to children and families with the goal of empowering families to make positive and sustainable changes. I am currently working towards my MA in Public Policy and hope to pursue my passion of working on issues related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and children. My greatest desire is bridging my personal and professional experiences to enhance the lives of children and families.

Morning Star Gali is a member of the Ajumawi band of Pit River Tribe. From 2016-2018 she was a Rosenberg Leading Edge Fellow focusing on the disproportionate impact of the criminal and juvenile justice systems on Native Americans. She has worked as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Pit River Tribe. She continues to lead large-scale actions while helping organize Native cultural, spiritual, scholarly, and political gatherings throughout California. Morning Star is deeply committed to advocating for indigenous sovereignty issues such as missing & murdered indigenous women, climate justice, gender justice and sacred sites protection on behalf of the tribal and intertribal communities that she was raised within.

Nona Main is a member of the Aaniiih and Nakoda Nations of Fort Belknap, Montana where she was born and raised. She earned her BA from MSU Billings in liberal studies/Native American studies and is currently working on an MSW at the University of Montana. She previously worked in sexuality education for nine years, specializing in providing and creating culturally-responsive, comprehensive sex education for Indigenous youth in different tribal communities. Her love of this work and advocacy led her back to the world of family planning and reproductive health, where she hopes to work collaboratively with rural and urban tribal communities to potentially expand access to family planning services and help with program development. Her work history also includes training in trauma-informed systems change, qualitative research in Indigenous communities. She is an experienced facilitator and trainer in a variety of issues and topics. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her son, family and loved ones. Her favorite place to be is hiking in the mountains.

Dr. Peggy L. Bird (she/her) is of the Sun Clan from Kewa Pueblo, New Mexico. She is mom, grandmother, an advocate/attorney/consultant/human rights activist and works to enhance the sovereignty of indigenous women by ending violence against Native women, both nationally and internationally. She provides training and technical assistance to address violence against Native women and also facilitates comprehensive strategic planning sessions with a Native perspective. Peggy is a co-founder of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, Inc., and the Indigenous Women’s Human Rights Collective, Inc.  She is a board member of Tewa Women United, Inc., the National American Indian Court Judges Association, and a co-founder of the NCAI Violence Against Native Women Task Force.  She is a recipient of the U.S. Department of Justice National Crime Victims Service Award and the Sunshine Peace Award granted by the Sunshine Lady Foundation and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law in May 1990, became a member of the State Bar of New Mexico in October 1990, and in May 2018, she received her Doctorate of Philosophy from Arizona State University. 

Rachael Lorenzo (Mescalero Apache/Laguna Pueblo/Xicana) is a queer, nonbinary parent of two and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They were born in Las Cruces, New Mexico to young parents and were raised on their father’s ancestral land in Laguna, New Mexico.

Rachael graduated with a BA in political science and a Masters in public administration, focusing on public health; both degrees are from the University of New Mexico.

Currently, Rachael is the Executive Director of an Indigenous-led reproductive justice organization, Indigenous Women Rising. They also serve as Assistant Commissioner of Cultural Resources at the New Mexico State Land Office.

In their spare time, Rachael writes short stories and poems, is a photographer, and tries to adopt cats without their husband finding out.

Stephanie Lozano (Ho-Chunk Nation) is the Tribal Liaison for the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.  Steph does extensive work with Tribal communities in Wisconsin.  She has a deep understanding of the relationships between the tribes and the U.S. government. She also serves on the board of SisterSong, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.