I help Tribal Nations, Indigenous organizations, and the institutions that work with them make AI and data decisions they control.
About
I'm a Chickasaw Nation citizen. I spent eight years leading planning and community development for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Samish Indian Nation. I then founded and ran Microsoft's Indigenous Program Office across the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where I co-led work bringing four low-resource Indigenous languages into AI translation models. I run ZD LLC and built the Indigenous AI Commons.
What I Offer
Indigenous data sovereignty, AI governance, and the long history of data used to count and control Indigenous Peoples.
Single sessions or a series, for tribal staff, language programs, health professionals, and researchers.
Before you adopt a tool, I review it against a written framework: what data it collects, where that data goes, and what the terms allow. You get plain-language findings.
AI and data governance policies scoped to your Nation or organization.
Send me an email about your project.
Selected Engagements
"Using AI while protecting data sovereignty," a webinar for health professionals.
Métis Language Exchange: From Language Knowledge to Language Teaching, Edmonton. Four workshops on AI and language.
"AI, Data Centers, and Tribal Impacts," a presentation on AI history.
Watch the recording →Keynote.
"AI on Your Terms: Running Local Models for Data Sovereignty."
With Dr. Lydia Jennings
With Jane Anderson (Local Contexts / NYU)
"It's Never Going To Be A Non-Issue: AI and Indigenous Interests."
With Jane Anderson