Michael Johnson & Crystal Echo Hawk | Illuminative | 2024 Skoll Award Acceptance Speech

Michael Johnson & Crystal Echo Hawk of Illuminative Skoll Award Acceptance Speech
IllumiNative is a national, Native woman-led racial and social justice organization dedicated to disrupting this profound erasure. IllumiNative was founded in 2018 to activate the findings of the Reclaiming Native Truth (RNT) project, the largest public opinion research and strategy-setting project ever conducted by, for, and about Native peoples. Since then, they have worked to increase Native representation across key sectors, galvanized support among national audiences, and built power for Native peoples to author their own narrative and future.
illuminative.org/
Visit the IllumiNative profile page on Skoll.org: skoll.wf/49ah7Wt
Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee) is the founder and CEO of IllumiNative, the first and only national, Native-led organization focused on changing the narrative about Native peoples on a mass scale. Among IllumiNative’s most noted accomplishments are its leading role helping to achieve the Washington Football Team name change in 2020, advancing contemporary Native representation in TV and film, and organizing a collaborative strategy to support the confirmation of the first Native Cabinet Secretary and Secretary of Interior, Deb Haaland.
Michael Johnson (Nuxbaaga/Sahnish/Anishinaabe) is a citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Michael graduated with distinction from University of Colorado Denver majoring in Political Science. Over the last 14 years, Michael has worked to grow and strengthen the educational, health, economic, land conservation, policy, litigation, impact investing and lending, organizing, and power building nonprofit sectors serving Indian Country to create lasting relationships built on respect, reciprocity, impact, and success with communities and allies alike.
About the Skoll Awards For Social Innovation
The Skoll Foundation presents the Skoll Awards for Social Innovation each year to a select group of social innovators whose work targets the root causes of societal problems that are ripe for transformational social change.
skoll.org/about/skoll-awards/