NAFOA

Here are NAFOA's 5️⃣ Things You Need to Know This Week: https://lnkd.in/dBstfc-E 1️⃣ Conference: Celebrating Native Women in Leadership Roles at #NAFOA2025 2️⃣ For Tribes: State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLRF) Project and Expenditure Report 3️⃣ Must Read: Building a Native Economy: Apache Corners and the Tonto Apache Nation Flexing Their Economic Sovereignty 4️⃣ Accounting: GASB Preliminary Views for Public Comment 5️⃣ Jobs: Senior Assistant General Counsel, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

Join NAFOA and Moss Adams tomorrow, April 3rd, from 1-2pm EST for an insightful webinar designed for tribal procurement and finance professionals seeking to streamline their processes and reduce unnecessary burdens associated with current policies and procedures. Register Today!

Last week we celebrated a milestone -the successful completion of the 7th Cohort of the AFOA Canada Harvard Business School Executive Education program on Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities in partnership with NAFOA. Over seven cohorts, this transformative program has empowered 314 Canadian Indigenous Leaders, 14 Māori leaders, 12 Australian Aboriginal leaders and approximately 280 leaders from American Tribes. Now, its their time to write their chapter - to take the knowledge, strategies, and vision gained and turn them into real lasting impact. I can't wait to see how they shape the future, strengthening communities for generations to come. Aho!

Here are NAFOA's 5️⃣ Things You Need to Know This Week: https://lnkd.in/dVNhMsXe 1️⃣ Webinar: Reduce Undue Burden by Revising Procurement and Finance Policies and Procedures 2️⃣ Conference: Join Us for the Women's Leadership Breakfast at #NAFOA2025 3️⃣ Policy: Deputy Treasury Secretary Faulkender Confirmed by Senate 4️⃣ Grant Opportunities: Native Language Immersion Grant Program 5️⃣ Jobs: Experienced Housing Director, Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of CA

Thank you NAFOA, Cahuilla, and Havard Business School for another opportunity to expand my learning and to meet other aspiring leaders! #Harvard #HBS

Friday was the last day of Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities at Harvard Business School. This was an incredible experience that I am so honored and grateful I got to attend!

I spent this week among indigenous people from around the world at Harvard Business School in the program - ‘Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainability Communities’. It was an amazing learning experience I will never forget. I learned from the case studies and lectures, but more importantly, I learned from everyone else. It was a humbling experience to be part of such an exceptionally intelligent cohort. I thank each and every one of them for all the knowledge they shared.

The Leading Communities and Investing in to Build Sustainable Communities program at Harvard Business School was an amazing opportunity to learn from and with Indigenous leaders from across the world. The curriculum, faculty, and student body were terrific. The work folks are doing for their communities and the sincerity in which they approach it is inspiring. It’s going to be a fun to watch the next chapters for our communities as we put these skills sets to work.

Healing, Belonging, and Synergy: My HBS Experience Stepping onto Harvard’s campus, taking in the centuries-old Georgian architecture and cobblestone pathways, I felt goosebumps—not from excitement nor the crisp New England air, but from the PTSD hitting my nervous system. Even though I was attending a program that NAFOA helped create with Harvard Business School Executive Education, I couldn’t shake a sense of pessimism at first. Having graduated nearly a decade ago from a similarly wealthy, predominantly white institution in New England, I knew too well the trauma a place like Harvard could inflict on someone without that background. Unexpectedly, my experience at Harvard Business School was nothing like my time at Trinity College. I felt truly accepted. Heard. Welcome. To be in a classroom filled with people from communities with shared histories and aspirations, to have professors who listened and genuinely valued diverse perspectives, and to be surrounded by classmates who uplifted and embraced each other—it was an empowering experience. "Synergy" seemed to be the word of the week, and for good reason. Whereas before I felt like I had to claw my way to the top just to earn an ounce of respect, I see now there is a world where respect doesn’t have to be fought for—it simply exists. A professor once told me (with good intentions) that without my struggles at Trinity, I wouldn’t have accomplished all that I have. They were wrong. I don’t have to create from a place of despair. I can create and contribute from a place of joy. This week, we talked about sustainable communities. This is what sustainability feels like—building, creating, and thriving in a way that nourishes rather than depletes, that uplifts rather than exhausts. A heartfelt thank you to our partners at HBS, especially the wonderful David Ager and his team, for making this such a magical experience. Thank you to everyone who joined this week—leaders from Tribal Nations in the U.S., First Nations in Canada, and Māori from New Zealand and Australia. Your stories, insights, and laughs made this week even more impacful. And, thank you to AFOA Canada for their continued partnership with us on this program. Leaving Harvard, I feel my energy renewed and my sense of purpose deepened in supporting Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples. Maraming salamat mga kasamahan.