At 12 years old I began the process of registering for Cherokee Nation Citizenship. My mother and  grandfather drove me to Oklahoma to register in person, see the reservation and family land, then visit the  genealogy library in the basement of the Cherokee National History Museum. As we drove through the reservation, I distinctly remember the poverty-stricken houses, skeleton trucks scattered in yards, the yellow grasses of late summer dry and brittle. This led me to growing up engaged in activism regarding the American Indian movement, and my life since has been a journey of attempting to fully understand the injustices against American Indians. These experiences and beliefs are the driving influence to my compositions; to expose and highlight injustices, to reflect and pay homage to the dissenters, to charge head-on into the storm of inequalities with my actions and compositions, and as Wilma Mankiller said,  ‘become the buffalo.’ My compositions 3 Stamps and I Become the Buffalo are some of my reflections of these experiences. 

I have also been intricately influenced by my time spent living in Mexico City, where I witnessed injustices  through the discrimination against indigenous people, effects of a visibly corrupt government, and was able to clearly see actions of the United States that affect communities world-wide. I saw firsthand the fearless citizens of Mexico City take to the streets weekly to protest deaths and inaction of a corrupt government. My suite, Wagon Burning Savage was composed during my Mexico City years and is dedicated to those involved in social unrest in Mexico and the United States, much of which I witnessed; such as Ayotzinapa, cartel/government collusion. "11.4.11" from Wagon Burning Savage is about two mass killings in two weeks with 11 drug cartel beheadings near Mexico City.  

Having been back in the United States a few years, I was able to use my experiences as a starting point for  compositions scoring theatrical pieces, such as So Go the Ghosts of Mexico: Part 3, which highlights the  influence of US governmental power regarding the US/Mexico drug wars. It was my first time writing music for a full-length play, which later was recognized as Best Original Music/Songs for Theater of 2019 by Theatre Jones in Dallas where it world-premiered. I have also worked on scores and original songs for the theater in plays exploring the racial divide in America (We Walk Along the Christmas Bridge through Center Theatre Group), as well as a one act play about immigration detention centers (In the Name of All the Mothers Away). I would like to take my experiences composing for theater into exploring composing for film and television, but have not yet had the opportunity. 

During the last four years, residencies and commissions have allowed me to continue writing about protestors and change-makers. During The Wyoming Music Festival, where I wrote Grand Bitches of the Tetons, I was able to meet a descendant of one of the first women who summited the Grand Tetons in the 1930’s. In their tearful eyes I saw the deep appreciation for writing about family and women that fought against the social norms of their times. From this arose the suite Our Founding Foremothers, which is a celebration of women who shaped American History (in ways large and small), of which Grand Bitches of the Tetons became the first piece of the suite. The second composition of this suite, I Become the Buffalo, is a reflection on the early years of the first female Cherokee Nation Chief, Wilma Mankiller. The third, and most recent commission is a brass quintet, The Whitney Reno Cure, inspired by the women-owned divorce ranches in Reno, Nevada, which was the only place in the US where women could divorce for grounds beyond adultery, thus giving them the power to leave dysfunctional and abusive marriages.

I am currently expanding Our Founding Foremothers and collaborating on several theatrical projects. Coming soon is a dance collaboration with Omaro Productions with the team of Carolina Kzan, cinematographer; Irene van Zeeland, producer; and Alberto Barletta, choreographer.