I’m a writer, technologist and facilitator, and the co-founder and Executive Director of Awana Digital (formerly known as Digital Democracy). For over a decade, our team has been co-building technology with Indigenous communities around the world so that they can map their territories, monitor threats, and defend their rights. Local communities have used our tool CoMapeo to protect more than 16 million hectares of critical ecosystems on five continents.

When I was a younger, I dreamed of working with animals. I even wrote a research paper in middle school on “How Technology Is Helping Us Communicate With Animals.” All that changed in 1996, when, at the age of 13, I traveled on a reporting trip to Cuba on a journalist visa. I interviewed peers in crumbling Havana colonials, talked to young Pioneers about their frustrations with US foreign policy, and watched the Atlanta Olympics in a conference hall with Fidel Castro.

The lessons I learned on that trip made me deeply committed to breaking down stereotypes, cross-cultural communication, and the pursuit of social justice. Since that fateful trip, I’ve focused on media, youth development and social justice. I’ve been blessed to work with incredible people and organizations around the globe. In West Africa, I conducted research on Malian conceptions of poverty. In Southeast Asia, I worked with former political prisoners, dissidents and refugees. In the Midwestern United States, I worked with my mom and her photography partner on  “En Los Campos,” a multi-media exhibit highlighting the lives of teenage migrant farm workers.

Before launching Digital Democracy (now Awana Digital), I worked for Internews Network on their Africa programs, at AllAfrica.com on their French pages and at Y-Press as Assistant Bureau Director. From 2007-20212 I focused on understanding the ways that technology and social media impact civic engagement and human rights. In 2012, based on our work with Mayan communities in Chiapas, Mexico, I became passionate about the power of Indigenous-led mapping initiatives, and as an organization we shifted our focus to be at the intersection of environmental justice and human rights. Since 2013 we’ve been co-building technology with Indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest.

I’ve lived all over the world, and now make my home in the beautiful Driftless Region of Wisconsin, traditional territory of HoChunk, Miami, Sauk, and Kickapoo Peoples, where I am part of a group building an intentional community, and restoring native ecosystems. I live with my partner, our two young boys and our human-in-a-dog-suit Cosmo. I am happiest when I am outside,  getting to explore new places, and spending time with friends and family.