First Nations • 22nd May 2025

TJ Young: The Raising of a Totem Pole Artist

Master totem pole carver TJ Young is renowned in many Alaskan communities for carving traditional Haida totem poles and canoes, alongside his brother. The brothers have created some of the most talked-about, three-dimensional totem poles in Alaska, ranging in size from 7 feet to 40 feet tall. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland attended the raising of his totem pole honoring victims of Indian boarding schools.

14th May 2025

Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali

You could say that 38-year-old Mahershala Ali owes his acting career to his grandfather. A gifted athlete from Hayward, California, Ali attended St. Mary’s College on a basketball scholarship. His grandfather told him, “If you graduate with a 3.0, I’ll give you $5,000.”

3rd June 2025

An Unimaginable Loss Has Made Kids Safer

Erin Runnion was thrust into the public spotlight for the worst of reasons. On July 15, 2002, her 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, was snatched, kicking and screaming, out of her front yard by a sex offender and found murdered days later. Her story shook the entire nation and brought to light the frightening reality that there are evil people living among us whose singular purpose is to harm our children.

First Nations • 22nd May 2025

Anna Brown Ehlers: A Tlingit Master Weaver

Anna Brown Ehlers has created dozens of Chilkat blankets for ceremonial and cultural uses over the last 40 years. Her one-of-a-kind creations are on display in museums and in private collections all over the country, such as the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Burbank, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and throughout Alaska.

ICT News • 6th May 2016

The Ties That Bind Heroes

Ninety-two-year-old Roy Huff of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is a World War II veteran. I am a 50-something single mom from California who never fought in a war, unless you count a tumultuous 10-year marriage. So, what on earth could we have in common, besides our Oneida heritage? Cue the grandfathers.

Indian Country Today • 26th February 2018

Famous Dave's Founder Dishes on BBQ and Life

He’s been called “America’s Rib King,” “The Pit Master” and you could even say he’s a grilling guru. No matter what the nickname, one thing is certain: Dave Anderson, a citizen of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, knows his barbecue!

4th September 2024

A 100-Year-Old Penobscot Vet Returns Yearly to Normandy to Commemorate D-Day

In 1943, Charles Norman Shay, a 19-year-old Native from Indian Island, Maine, was a combat medic who was part of the first wave of infantrymen that arrived aboard small landing craft on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. He saved many men that day, pulling them out of the water and nursing their injuries, while dodging heavy enemy fire.

15th May 2025

A Place in the Sun: Wahoo’s Owner Hooks His Dream Home

They don’t know it yet, but when Wing and Reanea Lam finally move into the seaside villa they’re building in Newport Beach, I’m moving in, too. I didn’t realize I had a dream home until I walked through the $1.3 million duplex they’re converting into a 3800 sq. ft., four-bedroom, four-bath, single-family masterpiece right next to the river jetty and within 100 yards of the sand.

OC Family Magazine • 18th February 2018

Tommy Lasorda on Life, Love and Baseball

There's an old saying, "When you try to embrace all of mankind, you sometimes forget your wife." Nothing could be further from the truth for Tommy Lasorda, baseball's favorite blue blood who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for 20 career-defining years.

6th May 2025

2024 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow Audre Etsitty

Audre Etsitty loves horses. These beautifully muscular, four-legged teachers, companions, and helpers have always been a part of her life. “I grew up in a deeply rooted agricultural family. We dry-land farmed, rodeoed, and raised livestock,” she shares with First Nations. Her grandfather and uncles roped calves, and she started performing in rodeos when she was only 9 years old.

15th May 2025

Radio/TV Broadcaster Ed Arnold: A Man About Town

Ed Arnold began his broadcasting career when he was just 14 at KOSY, his hometown radio station in Texarkana, Arkansas, filing records for 75 cents an hour. Within months, this ambitious, young man had his own show, “The Rocking-With-Eddie Show,” on which a then-unknown singer named Elvis Presley made some of his first appearances.

OC Family Magazine • 22nd February 2018

That Lovin' Feeling: Bill Medley and Daughter Share Righteous Love of Music

McKenna Medley comes by her musical talent righteously. She is the daughter of Bill Medley―the sultry, velvety-voiced singer of the legendary duo “The Righteous Brothers,” whose timeless songs, such as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” and “Unchained Melody,” belong to everyone’s past and continue to be loved by a whole new generation.

Native Business Magazine • 2nd June 2021

The Sioux Chef

When you think of Native American cuisine, what comes to mind? Indian tacos? Buffalo burgers? Frybread? While beloved by many Natives and certainly tasty, these dishes are not the traditional foods of Indian country.

St. Mary's College • 18th February 2018

The Accidental Artist

Lisa Congdon never meant to be a fine artist, illustrator or even an author. But fate had different plans for this history major and former elementary school teacher.

LA Family Magazine • 22nd February 2018

Josie Bissett: From Melrose to Motherhood

The phone rang at precisely 1:30 p.m. Whoever said that actresses are always tardy and temperamental never interviewed Josie Bissett.

15th May 2025

How One Laguna Pueblo is Making a Name for Herself in Brain Research

When Andrea Gomez was 8 years old, she told anyone who would listen that she wanted to be a microbiologist. “I knew I would be studying small things, and I was interested in that concept of observing things beyond the eye.” Nearly 25 years later, the Laguna Pueblo Native now finds herself in a very small population of Indian Country that has earned a doctorate degree, let alone one in the STEM fields.

St. Mary's College • 19th February 2018

Making the Team of Destiny

When Trevor Newquist was 6 years old, he started playing soccer in Naples, Italy, where his father, a special agent for the Navy, had been transferred with the family. Fast-forward to present day, and 21-year-old Newquist is now captain of the men’s soccer team at Saint Mary’s College.

15th May 2025

A Chat with Voice-Over Artist and Actor Mike Villani

His name might not be familiar, but his voice certainly is. For DECADES, Mike Villani has been the voice of many commercials. “I’ve made a lot of money saying, ‘Call now! Member F-D-I-C,’” jokes the voice-over artist, who enjoys a privileged and very specialized profession claimed by just a handful of golden-voiced people in Orange County.

Indian Country Today • 7th June 2021

A Home Run

Liz Somers will never forget the first Major League Baseball game she attended. It was a perfect summer day—September 2, 2012—when the Milwaukee Brewers hit five home runs and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, a contender for a wild-card playoff spot, at their home field of Miller Park.

Native Business Magazine • 3rd February 2020

The All-Inclusive Business Leader: Sajeed ‘Titu’ Asghar, Morongo Band CEO

While most of us are still snoozing, Sajeed “Titu” Asghar is already up and running every day. “My morning starts at 4:30 with news, a portfolio review, calls to the broker dealer in New York and answering emails,” says Asghar, the chief executive officer for The Morongo Band of Mission Indians since 2016.