Harold Attla

Are you a Lifelong Alaskan? I am a lifelong Alaskan. What part of Alaska did you grow up in? I am from Hughes, Alaska on the Koyukuk river where I grew up and then went to high school in Tanana Alaska on the Yukon river, I have been living in Fairbanks Alaska on the Tanana river since 1985. Alaska can …

Joshua Branstetter

Joshua Albeza Branstetter is a Filipino-American filmmaker and photographer living in Anchorage, Alaska. He has received international acclaim for his documentary work, including Pinguat, chronicling the return of a 150-year-old Alutiiq headdress from France to its ancestral home in Kodiak, Alaska. In 2020, he was awarded a Rasmuson fellowship for his ongoing work with Absolute Zero, a multi-disciplinary arts project …

Teisha Simmons

Teisha Simmons is a Koyukon Athabascan whose family comes from the communities of Galena, Huslia and Koyukuk, along the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers. She lives in Fairbanks where her and her partner Zac are raising their 16-year-old daughter Tassy. Teisha was injured in a car accident in 1992 that left her paralyzed from the chest down. Since then, she has …

Nels Christensen

Tell Us A Little About Yourself – I am 19 years old and a longtime resident of Fairbanks, Alaska.  My mother’s family is from Gwichyaa Zhee, otherwise known as Fort Yukon.  My parents met at UAF while my father was in the navy.  Due to this, I spent some years between Fairbanks and San Diego, CA at a young age …

Dr. Jaunelle Celaire

Are you a Lifelong Alaskan?  What part of Alaska did you grow up in? I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I moved to the United States when I was 18; I received my BA at Anderson University, my MM at Bowling Green State University and finally my DMA at the University of Michigan. In 2003, I moved to Fairbanks, …

Julia Terry

Tell Us A Little About Yourself – I’m a queer person who strongly identifies as working class. I think identity is an important way of sharing with people about all of the things that make us a whole person – so I like to share with people that I identify as a white, anti-racist, polyamorous, relationship anarchist. I dropped out …

Dr. Anne Zink

Tell Us A Little About Yourself – I’m a practicing emergency medicine physician who came to Alaska full time 12 years ago. I first came to Alaska during college when I was a mountaineering guide and met my husband and we always wanted to come back.  It has been an honor and a joy to live here and serve for …

Lisa Kangas

Tell Us A Little About Yourself – Are you a Lifelong Alaskan?  What part of Alaska did you grow up in? My name is Lisa Kangas and I’m Koyukon Athabascan born and raised in Alaska. I grew up in the village of Ruby, Alaska, located on the Yukon River, and moved to Fairbanks when I was twelve years old. I …

Jody Potts

Tell Us A Little About Yourself – I am a village girl through and through, and proud of it. Are you a Lifelong Alaskan?  What part of Alaska did you grow up in and what was it like growing up there?   I was born and raised in Alaska but went to college in Arizona and lived around the world but …

Hannah C. Hill

Are you a Lifelong Alaskan?  No – my family moved to Alaska, from Texas, in the early ’90s when I was a kid. What part of Alaska did you grow up in and what was it like growing up there?  Fairbanks! I’d never really seen snow before we moved to Alaska, let alone experienced dark & cold like there is …