Ep. 13 | Fawn Sharp

On Episode 13 of The Native Edge podcast, Chris and Yvette welcomed Fawn Sharp to The National Center's headquarters in Mesa, Arizona. Fawn is well-known throughout Indian Country from her time as President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and leadership in Quinault Indian Nation and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.

Fawn shares her path to leadership; her incredible local, regional, and national efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic; advocacy in combatting climate change; current role as a board member of the Nature Conservancy; and how the rest of the world can learn from Indigenous peoples and culture.

The interviewed was recorded over the summer, but we wanted to releases it during Native American Heritage Month. Throughout the month, we are selling a customed designed t-shirt encouraging you to buy Native throughout the month. All proceeds go directly to support our incredibly programming. Click here to purchase a shirt!

Chapters

• 0:56 Tourism announcement
• 2:39 Intro to Fawn
• 6:22 Leadership
• 10:11 Early political influences
• 13:07 Stepping up in the pandemic
• 14:38 The "Quiet Crisis"
• 15:39 Starting at NCAI in 2019
• 19:25 Getting Indian Country needed resources
• 22:53 Regional leadership
• 26:18 Debriefing COVID
• 29:24 Understanding the issues
• 31:56 Climate Change
• 35:32 Communicating Climate Change
• 42:51 Role of Indigenous people in a sustainable future
• 47:09 Leaving elected leadership + Nature Conservancy work
• 53:00 Work-life balance
• 58:28 Indigenous influences on the rest of the world
• 1:01:00 Wrap