Oaye Luta Okolakiciye

Gene Tyon M.A.

    I am a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe and was raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in northwest corner of South Dakota. I am the founder and executive director of Lakota-led nonprofit Oaye Luta Okolakiciye – (Moving Forward in a Sacred Way) based in Rapid City, SD., within our spiritual homeland of the Hé Sapa (Black Hills). We serve a wide catchment area in Western SD including the surrounding Tribal Reservations.

    I received my Bachelor of Science degree from Oglala Lakota College, Master of Administration degree from the University of South Dakota - Specializing in addiction studies. I possess decades of experience in culturally grounded programming, community organizing, nonprofit organization and management.

    Oaye Luta Okolakiciye emphasis on cultural and community-based pathways to healing and resilience has flourished into a physical institution that serves as a key resource for cultural healing within health, justice, education, child welfare, and Indigenous advocacy spaces. We display collaboration with both western and Indigenous partners within an area contextualized by both intense trauma and deeply rooted systemic politics and racism. My leadership role within the community displays an advocate, mentor, and frontrunner of individual and community Indigenous health and wellness through our culture. ​

Lynn Cuny

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Oyate Waokiyan win emaciyapi ye. My Lakota name is She Helps Her People. I am dedicated to the health, education, sovereignty and lifeways of the Lakota na Dakota people. I have been on the board for OLO for over ten years. 

I was born and raised in Rapid City, SD & am currently the Deputy Director at Thunder Valley CDC in Porcupine SD. I have a Masters Degree in Lakota Leadership and Management, with 4 undergraduate degrees. I worked at Indian Health Service for 11 years and have several certifications including my Personal Trainer Certificate. I am and have always been an artist and have a degree in Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts. 

Valeriah Big Eagle, Ed.D.

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She received both her Baccalaureate in Sociology and her Master of Education from South Dakota State University. In addition, she received her Doctor of Education in Education Leadership from the University of South Dakota, specializing in Adult & Higher Education Administration. She understands the inequitable challenges that indigenous students face in education systems due to lack of cultural understanding and systemic racism, especially if they are in settings with little support for their cultural identity. She studied healing-informed practices in education that support Indigenous students and hopes to influence programming and public policy initiatives to culturally support indigenous students, resulting in an increase of indigenous graduates from high school, college, and beyond. Some of her accomplishments include being selected for Prairie Business Magazine’s “40 Under 40” Award, the F.O. Butler in Excellence for Community Service Award, and for serving as a 2020 Bush Fellow. She also participated in various leadership programs including: Leadership South Dakota, Native Nation Rebuilders, Rapid City Collective Impact Emerging Leaders, and Leadership Rapid City.

Verlyn Long Wolf, M.S.