Kinapek
Sikwani Dana
(President)Sikwani Dana (Penobscot) is the Wabanaki Rematriation School Coordinator and Co-director of Niweskok, a non-profit focused on Wabanaki culture and foodways. She also advises the board of MOFGA and the NEBEC project for improving nature access for communities of color. Outside of work, Sikwani is a homesteader and strives to live as sustainably as possible to stay connected with the Penobscot values she was raised with. Her love of educating bleeds over into this part of her life and she uses social media platforms to inspire people to live green.
Ann Pollard Ranco
(Board Member)Ann Pollard-Ranco is a member of the Penobscot Nation and has been an artist and environmental activist since she was a young teenager. Now in her mid 20s, she works as a professional artist, photographer/ video-grapher, writer, cultural consultant, and in indigenous food systems recovery.
Kessi Watters-Kimball
(Food Sovereignty Director)
Lokotah Sanborn
(Secretary)Lokotah Sanborn is a Penobscot artist and organizer dedicated to Indigenous liberation and empowerment. He is a member of Sunlight Media Collective, an organization working to document and produce stories affecting Wabanaki people and the intersections of environmental issues and tribal rights. Lokotah has a background in political organizing and community building.
Tagwongo Obomsawin
(Treasurer)Tagwongo Obomsawin (Odanak Abenaki Nation) grew up in Farmington, Maine (Anmesskanti). She is a renewable energy professional, a scholar of French and Abenaki language, researcher, and writer. Through her work, Tagwongo is committed to using renewable energy and sustainability ventures as tools for environmental and social justice. Tagwongo graduated from the University of Maine in 2015 with a B.A. in Economics and received an M.B.A. in Sustainability from Bard College in 2022.
Jus Crea Giammarino
(Board Member)Dr. Jus Crea Giammarino (Penobscot) has rich ancestral connections to Wabanaki territories throughout Maine. Understanding that health and wellness comes from our ancestral lands, she received a B.S in Ethnobotany and a Certificate in Native American Studies from UMass Amherst. She received a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the University of Bridgeport, CT and has been in private practice since 2005. She is also trained in Indigenous Midwifery and is a Certified Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor. She was previously a professor of nutrition and pathology and has lectured internationally on herbal medicine, ethnobotany, mid-wifery, naturopathic medicine, environmental medicine, and her cultural history and traditions.
Mali Obomsawin
(Executive Director)Mali Obomsawin is a musician and community organizer originally from Farmington, Maine and a citizen of Odanak First Nation (Abenaki). She is dedicated to tribal cultural and historic preservation, land return, and community building across Wabanaki homelands. She holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College (2018).
Monet Levalley-Garcia
(Assistant Executive Director)