NEWS & MEDIA

At just 25 years old, Sealaska shareholder descendant Stephanie (Sxhaalghén) Masterman was recognized by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development as a Native American 40 Under 40 award recipient for 2020. The announcement came in November. Masterman is Tlingit. She is Wooshkeetaan (Eagle/Shark Clan), a child of German, English, Irish and Navajo ancestors, and a grandchild of the T’akdeintaan (Raven/Sea Pigeon Clan). She was born and raised in Washington state but traces her family roots to Hoonah and

As walls rapidly go up on the new Mendenhall Valley location of the Glory Hall, Sealaska’s board of directors sent a strong message of support for the initiative by committing $50,000 to the project at its December meeting. The Glory Hall is Juneau’s emergency shelter and soup kitchen, providing three meals a day and shelter for those experiencing homelessness or crisis since 1981. The Glory Hall also provides transportation, social-service referrals, mental-health counseling, laundry, showers and more. The original Glory

Earlier this year, Sealaska marked an important milestone in its growth and development as a company – following the board election this spring, our board is now majority female, with seven of 13 members who are women.  Balance and reciprocity are important values we hold as Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people, and they’re part of our company values at Sealaska, too. Our cultures are matrilineal, and we have always recognized and honored the power and strength of women. It is

Close your eyes. Clear your mind. When you hear the word ‘scientist,’ who do you envision? Is it an ‘old guy,’ with ‘crazy hair’ in a ‘lab coat’ with ‘glasses’? Is he ‘white’? If those are the words you used, you’re just like the kids in Hydaburg City School District used to be. That is, before they met Wendy F. Smythe and learned a new way to think of themselves and to value their traditional knowledge.  Smythe is Haida of

Caitlin Way never had any intention of being an entrepreneur. Even after becoming a business owner, she had a hard time embracing the identity.  When she returned home to Sitka after graduating from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, she didn’t quite know what her next step would be.  Way, who is Tlingit, said she was operating under the assumption that she needed a master’s degree to be successful. But in the months

Her business card says she’s the president and CEO of The CIRI Foundation, but Susan Anderson jokes that her real title ought to be “fairy godmother.”  That’s because she says her job is “not even a job” – she oversees the distribution of millions of dollars a year in scholarships and grants to help CIRI shareholders and descendants transform their lives through education while strengthening ties to their culture.  Anderson is Tlingit, with roots in Wrangell and Juneau, but grew

When the Healing Hand Foundation was established, it was designed to fill gaps in the medical and health-care services available to beneficiaries of Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) and to veterans. At the time, that might mean providing travel assistance so Elders could have a companion travel with them to out-of-town medical appointments, or to fund a replacement pair of eyeglasses for a veteran whose Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) coverage wouldn’t provide another. This spring, Healing Hand offered

A video recording of Sealaska’s interactive Zoom session with Tlingit and Koyukon Athabascan actor Martin Sensmeier is now available at the link below for viewing. The session included more than 100 participants, who were treated to a conversation between Sensmeier and Sealaska Board Chair Joe Nelson. Nelson asked Sensmeier questions about his path to stardom in feature films including his breakout role in “The Magnificent Seven” alongside Denzel Washington and Vincent Donofrio. Since then, Sensmeier, who is also known for

Sealaska joins with Alaska’s congressional delegation and its 4,400 landless shareholders in the communities of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Haines and Tenakee Springs in celebrating the introduction today of legislation aimed at righting the historical wrong represented by their exclusion from the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The legislation allows the five communities to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under ANCSA. This new legislation would grant one township (23,040 acres) of land to each of the five