Scierra LeGarde is a member of the Bayou Lacombe Band of Choctaw located in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana and is a resident of Bvlbancha, commonly known as New Orleans. In her spare time, she volunteers at schools, museums and other venues across the state of Louisiana. Her passion as an educator is to challenge the way many non-Indigenous people learn about Native history and culture by including contemporary issues from Indigenous perspectives. Scierra is a jingle dress dancer and is in her fifth year learning Bayou Lacombe Choctaw style of basket weaving from Mr. Tom Colvin. She is a member of Okla Hina Ikhish Holo (People of the Sacred Medicine Trail) which is a network of femme/non-binary Indigenous gardeners, working urgently to develop the continuation of sacred, long-standing cultural practices connected to food, medicine, and land. She is also a team member of Hachotakni Haco -- a stickball group composed of intertribal community members throughout Bvlbancha -and other local projects aimed towards Land Back, strengthening Indigenous sovereignty and reestablishing our connection with the sacredness of Mother Earth. She is thankful to her family and friends who have supported her throughout the years and looks forward to continuing this journey with them.
Jennifer Loft
Email: jcloft@buffalo.edu