THOSH COLLINS. ONK-AKIMEL O'ODHAM + WA-ZHA-ZHI + HAUDENOSAUNEE
THOSH COLLINS was born and raised in the Salt River Reservation in Arizona where he is now a family man, community organizer and an active participant in the community. He is a board member and senior trainer for the Native Wellness Institute and currently sits on the Land Management Board in Salt River. Thosh, along with his wife Chelsey Luger, co-founded WELL FOR CULTURE, an Indigenous wellness initiative which promotes whole life-ways through ancestral teachings to optimize contemporary Indigenous lifestyles. Thosh and Chelsey travel to indigenous communities all over the US and Canada to teach workshops about their indigenous wellness model the ‘7 Circles of Wellness’. They have presented at numerous national conferences focused on indigenous health. Thosh has dedicated his life to helping shift the collective consciousness of indigenous communities and people in regards to prioritizing whole health for the benefit of future generations.
CHELSEY LUGER. LAKOTA + OJIBWE
Chelsey is from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. She double majored in History and Native American Studies at Dartmouth College, concentrating on comparative histories of global Indigenous cultures and post-colonial theory. She later earned an M.S. in Digital Media at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. In her work as a journalist, she highlights activist movements and environmentalism as it relates to wellness and Native culture. Chelsey is passionate about motivating youth to stay active and healthy in order to build mental-physical-spiritual strength.