Heather Sauyaq (Soy-ugkh) Jean Kwamboka Gordon is the owner and principle consultant
at Sauyaq Solutions, working with Indigenous Tribes and communities on research, evaluation,
and technical assistance. She has served in the federal government, nonprofit world,
academia, and now directly serves Tribes, organizations, and communities. Heather
was born and raised in Homer, Alaska. She is Iñupiaq and an enrolled Tribal member
of the Nome Eskimo Community, a federally recognized Tribe. Her Iñupiaq name, Sauyaq,
means drum. She works to be a good relative and advocate for Indigenous people, beating
the drum to lift up Indigenous voices. The Sauyaq or drum is used at all gatherings
and ceremonies to bring people together. In some Iñupiaq dialects the word for ‘skin’
of the drum also means ‘future eye’ relating to the ‘eye of awareness’. Heather married
into a Kenyan Kisii Tribal family and was gifted the name Kwamboka which means crossing
a bridge. She was gifted this name her second visit to Kenya when she was able to
move between her own and the Kisii culture.
Heather holds a PhD in Indigenous Studies with a concentration in Indigenous Sustainability.
Her work highlights links between culture and wellbeing, addresses sustainability
and justice, emphasizes connectedness with nonhuman and more than human kin, and speaks
about the importance of listening to Indigenous Knowledges. She is a boundary spanner
between knowledge systems and a science diplomat to communicate research to policy
makers. She co-lead/organized the Global Indigenous Youth Summit on Climate Change
in 2023. She serves on the US National Academy of Sciences Co-Production of Environmental
Knowledge, Methods, and Approaches committee, the Arctic Research Consortium of the
US Board of Directors, as co-chair for the International Conferences on Arctic Research
Planning IV Understanding Vulnerability/Resilience of Arctic Environments/Societies-Supporting
Sustainable Development priority, as an expert in cultural heritage and Indigenous
sustainability for the U.S. Department of State Speaker Program, as adjunct faculty
for American University’s Measurement and Evaluation program, and on multiple advisory
boards.
Contact/Socials:
Email: sauyaqsolutionsllc@gmail.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hjgordon/
Twitter: @HeatherJ_Gordon
Threads: @sauyaq
Bluesky: @sauyaq.bsky.social
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heather-Gordon
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/sauyaq
