The inspiration and foundation for my social enterprise is tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and self-governance. As Native people, we are sovereign nations and we hold sovereign rights to govern our communities, and these sovereign rights include Indigenous data sovereignty and data governance. The idea for my social enterprise was brought to the forefront by my experience in my doctoral program and an “almost” post-doc experience. I encountered severe discrimination, racism, cultural appropriation, and misappropriation. I saw non-Indigenous scholars and health practitioners receive recognition, funding, publication, and achievements that perpetuated discrimination and bias that have ongoing adverse effects on Indigenous communities, scholars, and students. No one was holding anyone accountable. Non-Indigenous scholars were just taking what they needed for their advancement with little to no benefit to Native/Indigenous people and communities. Comparatively, these events led to the continued exclusion of Indigenous scholars. Like many of my Indigenous scholar colleagues, I was offered little to no support, funding, publication, or achievement opportunities as an Indigenous scholar trying to give voice and visibility to Indigenous research and ways of knowing. My social enterprise will elevate Indigenous scholars, research protocols, and narratives.  

My social justice enterprise will focus on healing and empowerment through Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. Tribal communities and nations can invoke their sovereignty and develop unique collaborative institutional review boards (IRBs) that are guided by protocols, ethical and diverse community considerations/approvals, training, and support networks to establish and empower community collaboration. These sovereign protective protocols and research community councils will govern who comes into our communities, what and who are published, ensuring tribal members will get opportunities to receive research training, publication, and collective funding to continue to benefit Native/Indigenous communities.

For non-Indigenous entities, this enterprise would create opportunities to expand cultural and historical knowledge to minimize present-day research inequities and injustices. The long-term impact is to establish protocols that are upheld by tribal nations, communities and partners to protect, heal, and empower Indigenous nations to elevate Indigenous narratives, visibility, and sovereignty.