In this episode, we hear from Dr. Amber Annis about the joys and challenges of rebuilding community and finding your voice as a leader.
Dr. Amber Annis is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Executive Director of Native Governance Center. Prior to taking on her role at NGC in December 2024, she worked at the Minnesota Historical Society as Associate Vice President of Tribal Nation Relations and Native American Initiatives. She was also a member of NGC’s Native Nations Rebuilder Program for Cohort 11. In her position at NGC, she supports efforts to rebuild Indigenous communities and empower leaders to find their strengths and their unique voices. A mother of two, she lives in St. Paul with her husband, a citizen of Turtle Mountain, and their dogs.
Transcript:
Dr. Amber Annis: Indigenous leadership style for me, really is about empowerment and understanding that we as Native people, we have our own leadership strength, right? And that really comes from our cultures. It comes from our ancestors, it comes from our histories, our background, but I also know that leadership kind of goes after you sometimes and chooses you in different ways.
Cole Premo: Boozhoo, welcome to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. I’m your host, Cole Premo.
Leah Lemm: And I’m your other host. Leah Lemm. Miigwech for joining us. Native Lights is more than a podcast and radio show. At its core, it’s a place for Native folks to tell their stories. Every week, we have captivating conversations with great guests from a bunch of different backgrounds. We’re talking community leaders, health care advocates, educators, musicians, artists, you name it. We have a great mixture of passions on the program, we talk to people about their gifts and how they share those gifts with their community, and it all centers around the big point of purpose in our lives, and I can’t wait to continue amplifying Native Voices today. Mr. Cole Premo, my brother.
Cole Premo: What up, sis?
Leah Lemm: How are you doing?
Cole Premo: Yeah, I’m doing great. We’re recording this in the springtime. The snow is melting. Sort of. Snow is melting in Stillwater. At least. It’s probably still a barren wasteland up in Grand Rapids, I would assume, just joking. But you know, feeling good. We’ve got a kid on the way, so I’m trying to get a lot of things done that I know I’m not going to get to after that. So I cleaned out our garage over the weekend. Felt really productive. We put a bunch in storage when we moved into our place. We put it like, in this back kind of place, back place, the back rooms behind our garage, basically. But it was just like, just messy and all that stuff. So I’ve taken a lot of time to clean that up, so feeling good, but it, of course, just took all my weekend.
Leah Lemm: You know what that’s called?
Cole Premo: What is it called?
Leah Lemm: Nesting.
Cole Premo: Nesting?
Leah Lemm: Yeah, nesting. You’re putting your little sticks in place, your little birdies.
Cole Premo: And I’m trying not to get into birding too.
Leah Lemm: That’s just like jazz, Cole. You can’t help it. It’s inevitable.
Cole Premo: Recently, I saw a bird and I took a picture of it, because I’m like, I don’t know what that is. I’m gonna try to look it up. I don’t think I found it because I kind of lost interest. But, you know, for a second there I had a little–
Leah Lemm: There’s an app for that.
Cole Premo: Except I couldn’t get, like, a good picture, so it’s kind of blurry.
Leah Lemm: Tell me about the bird.
Cole Premo: It was almost like a chickadee. It was like black and white. It was a very small bird with a short beak, and it was on our roof looking for something in our gutter, or something I don’t know. I know you’ve got, like, some kind of bird camera thing.
Leah Lemm: Oh, yeah, we got a Bird Buddy. We got a Bird Buddy. We’ll be setting it up very soon, well, maybe not very soon, because we also now have a bird dog. So I don’t know how those two things go together.
Cole Premo: Oh, you guys got a dog? I did not know that.
Leah Lemm: So we got a Bird Buddy and a bird dog, plus we have trumpeter swans right now on the river, which are honking away all day long.
Cole Premo: I was going to say are they honking away up there?
Leah Lemm: Tooting away, tooting their horns. Radagast, you could tell our puppy is like, his instincts are kicking into gear. He’s very curious. So it’s pretty fun.
Cole Premo: Well, I’ll keep tabs on my birding interest, and maybe it’ll blossom over the coming months and years here. But let’s get on to today’s guest. It’s actually somebody we’ve spoken to before. We’re bringing her back. It’s been a couple years, though, right? You know, lots of change. We are speaking with Amber Annis, PhD. Amber is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and is the executive director of the Native Governance Center. And she’s also a member of the Native Governance Center’s Native Nation Rebuilders Program for Cohort 11. She has a long history as a public historian, educator, Tribal Nation liaison, collaborator, community engagement specialist. I believe when we spoke to her last she was the director of the Native American Initiative at the Minnesota Historical Society. So we’ll just kind of see her journey from then to here and catch up a bit. And here she is. Boozhoo, Amber.
Dr. Amber Annis: Hello, hi, hi! How are you both good?
Leah Lemm: How are you it’s nice to see you.
Dr. Amber Annis: Yes, it’s nice to see you doing good.
Leah Lemm: We were just talking about birds.
Dr. Amber Annis: I am into birds a little bit.
Cole Premo: I was just telling her that I’m trying to resist the urge of becoming a birder.
Dr. Amber Annis: Don’t resist it. Don’t fight it. Yeah. That’s so funny. Birds have emerged in conversations the past two weeks. For me, we had our Rebuilder…currently we’re in cohort 15. Gosh, are we 15 now? Anyway, so we’re doing a virtual session, and the manager of the program had everyone think about their favorite animal, choose your favorite animal, whatever it may be, and then you just could only do the sound. So everyone went around and did the sound of their animal. And the one I knew right away was a meadowlark. And of course, I knew it right away. But it was from someone who was from South Dakota, and it’s such a common, beautiful sound. And so yeah, it was pretty funny to hear all the sounds people were making.
Leah Lemm: Did you know that you had to do the sound when you picked the animal?
Dr. Amber Annis: Yes, but they were pretty funny. It was, it was a good icebreaker if you need one for the future.
Cole Premo: I’m also resisting urge to ask you to do the sound.
Dr. Amber Annis: If you do your sound.
Cole Premo: I don’t think I could. Deal, deal. Otherwise, we’ll just catch up.
Dr. Amber Annis: That sounds great.
Cole Premo: Cool. All right. Boozhoo, Amber, could you start out by letting us know where you’re joining us from, a little bit of background?
Dr. Amber Annis: [Speaking in Lakota.] Hello, both of you. I greet you both with a good heart and a handshake. My name is Amber Annis. I’m a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and I am currently the Executive Director of the Native Governance Center. I spent several years at the Minnesota Historical Society. The recent position within that was Associate Vice President of Tribal Nation Relations. Beyond that, just personal information, which is that I have two daughters. One is going back to college. Another one is 14. We have two dogs. My husband is a citizen of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and we live in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Cole Premo: Nice. My follow up question was just going to be, how are you doing? How’s the family doing?
Dr. Amber Annis: Well, we’re doing good. We have a lot of good shows to watch, Netflix shows to watch. Everyone is desperate for nice weather, desperate for summer. My youngest has been counting down till her spring break. So we’re all doing good. Just yeah, I think, like everyone else, a little anxious for the really nice weather.
Leah Lemm: I know I call it Hard to Work Weather, where you’re just looking outside and not at your screen. And it’s tough to work. I just want to go outside and let the dog get all muddy.
Dr. Amber Annis: Gotta bathe them exactly.
Leah Lemm: You know, just all these other good things.
Dr. Amber Annis: Absolutely. Yeah, you know, that’s why I never could embrace working from home. I’m home now, but it’s only because it’s towards the end. But I never have been a work from home person because of that reason, it is way too easy to want to do that and be outside.
Leah Lemm: Totally. Well, what are you concentrating on or thinking about these days? Is there anything that you’re kind of geeking out about?
Dr. Amber Annis: You know, there’s been a couple of things I find that right now, in general, people are excited about their work. They’re moving forward, but it’s kind of shadowed, right? With what’s going on in the administration, particularly in Indian Country, what’s going on with all the Executive Orders, how this is impacting people. So I just have to mention that it feels like that’s always this kind of, you know, we have this double layer of positivity and negativity, but that seems to be the cards that we all were dealt since, you know, colonialism. But one of the things that has been really exciting for me lately, since joining the Native Governance Center, is the Native Nation Rebuilder Program, a really unique program in that it focuses on Indigenous leadership, Indigenous leadership in tribal government, Indigenous leadership within areas of sovereignty. And one of the things that’s been really exciting for me stepping in is sort of going through the data with all of that. And currently we have 245 alumni of that program. And I love thinking about that. We have 245 citizens of Nations within Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, of Native Nation Rebuilders, right? It is these folks that are leaders in their communities. They are leaders in their own Nation. They all experience the same approach that we have at Native Governance Center too, right? Which is from that framework of Native Nation, rebuilding the framework of as Native people. We are the ones who know what is best for our own communities. We are the ones who can uplift our own selves. And so I’ve been thinking about that so much lately because. Feel like it’s this amazing network of leaders, Native leaders across this region that’s kind of hasn’t been really focused on a lot. I love all of their stories, their individual stories. They’ve all developed these different action plans. They’ve all gone into different sectors, different types of work. And I think it’s really amazing and kind of beautiful to think that they all have that lens of NGC, the framework, the sort of what we are, delivery right, what we hope for as they take that out into their communities. So I’ve been thinking about that, and what does that look like in the future. I think about them when I think about all the changes that have been happening with the administration, and it makes me hopeful, because we do have such strong Native folks working in different areas that are there, fighting for us, for us and our rights, right, right in the foreground of the administration.
Cole Premo: You’re listening to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Today we’re speaking with Amber Annis, PhD. She is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Executive Director of the Native Governance Center.
Leah Lemm: Who are the folks then who participate in the Rebuilder Program, who goes into that program?
Dr. Amber Annis: You know, when the Rebuilder Program was first developed, and it still is, our focus is on leadership development for elected tribal leaders. The goal with that right is to really think through, how do all these nations rethink our own approach right to governance, to tribal governance, because of IRA, because of these sort of practices that with assimilation, right, that different tribes have adopted this larger movement. And I would say, I mean, it’s not even a movement. It’s existed since tribes were first, sort of, you know, thought about, right, as these governments, as these Tribal Nations. When it first started, it was around newly elected tribal leaders. But the more the years have gone on, the more we’ve seen that there was this need across this region, of Native folks that really wanted to lean into their own leadership styles, right? People that were working in their own communities, and people that are working off reservation too, in cities outside of elected leaders, we started seeing people coming in from just tribal employees, right, working within different businesses, working for the tribe themselves. Then we started to see folks who were working at different nonprofits, different organizations around this area, seeing a lot of young people that are beginning to think about civic engagement within their own communities. So it varies, and one of the things that has opened up for us so that we’ve had to do throughout the years is think through: What do we mean when we say, this is a program for tribal governance? What do we mean when we say governance? How do we first engage people to really get into that mind frame of what is the best thing for my community, what are the tools I can develop to help strengthen that community?
Cole Premo: Awesome. So last time we talked to you, you were at the Minnesota Historical Society. Could you talk to us about your journey from there to the Native Governance Center, and what brought you there?
Dr. Amber Annis: Moving into this position, I was ignoring signs from the universe for a couple of years. I loved my job at the Historical Society. I had an amazing team. The work we were doing was really important, and it allowed me to work in so many different fields across the state of Minnesota. And Native Governance Center, in different ways the past couple years, has been going through transition. They’ve reached out a couple times. And I’ve always been like, No, you know, I’m good here. And with this last one that came where they reached out, I just felt like, Okay, I’ve got to, I’ve got to stop ignoring, I feel like, some really strong signs. So when the position opened, and the conversation started happening, I just really thought this feels like a full circle kind of moment for me. Native Governance Center has always been a part of my professional life, right? But also, you know, the Rebuilders, when they first started this idea of a Native Nation Rebuilder was really exciting. And you look at all the people who had joined the cohorts, and, you know, they’d be these, either tribal leaders, or they’d be someone who was running one of their Native organizations, or someone who was a big, you know, really big in community organizing. And it was really empowering and really inspiring to see. And so I then became a Rebuilder during the COVID era, Cohort 11. Shout out to my Cohort 11 crew. We all have sayings, and ours was, “Build it up.” But for me, you know, thinking about Native Governance Center, seeing the impact that they’ve had throughout the years, it just it felt like a really natural move into that kind of work.
Cole Premo: Great. Could you talk about your role now at the Native Governance Center, what you bring to the table?
Dr. Amber Annis: One thing that I have to bring the table is I need to up my Halloween outfits, because Halloween costume parties are a big deal at Native Governance Center. So that’s one thing I’m don’t bring to the table yet. But, you know, I think that Native Governance Center is this Native-led nonprofit, right? We went fully remote over COVID. We’ve got team members that are here in the region, South Dakota. We’ve got folks in Arizona. Spread out. One thing that’s really important with that kind of environment, but beyond that, the kind of really amazing younger Native people that are working within the organization. One of the things that I feel, that I bring, and I really hope the team sees, too, is my desire and understanding that any organization is only successful as strong as their team is. How valued they all feel, how important that they see their work is. So that is the one thing I mean outside of, you know, the other skills with it, I feel like you have to start with, then you have to start within, before you can even think about impact outside. But beyond that, you know, I spent the last few years at the Historical Society engaging in different ways with tribes across Minnesota, different tribal historic preservation officers, engaging with our Indian Advisory Committee, which were representatives. You know, we had representatives of all 11 Tribal Nations. So I spent a lot of time really hearing from folks about, what are the needs, you know, what are the things that they are seeing? What are the needs in the community? One, you know, at the Historical Society, was about, how can I be the best advocate for Tribal Nations? And, you know, how can I make sure that that perspective was always a part of any decisions? But it was also learning a lot, learning a lot from folks, learning a lot from leaders, and knowing when I stepped into this role, that I would have that lens, I would have that sort of background about we know that there’s a need for this kind of training, Indigenous leadership training. How can we expand that a little bit like, what does that actually mean, just to have training and Indigenous leadership styles? Taking that kind of need I’ve been hearing and experience I’ve had into the organization has been exciting, you know, to think about. And exciting to start working on it.
Leah Lemm: What is an Indigenous leadership style?
Dr. Amber Annis: Exactly. Indigenous leadership style, for me, really is about empowerment and understanding that we as Native people, we have our own leadership strength, right? And that really comes from our cultures. It comes from our ancestors. It comes from our histories, our background. That’s first and foremost for me, that reminder to people that you know a leader, Indigenous leader, or working in leadership, I know that it’s harder for a lot of people to think about themselves that way. You know myself included. You know, I always say I’m a behind the scenes person. I’m on the ground. I don’t want to be up front, but I also know that leadership kind of goes after you sometimes and chooses you in different ways. So Indigenous leadership style, right? Is first centering it from that place of who you are as a Native person, who you are, what you bring as a Native person to anything that you’re doing, right. But Indigenous leadership is really then after that, centering our own approaches to leadership. And so when I say that, it’s, you know, the sort of Indigenous lens. So if leadership means that for us, right, you think about our values. You think about values that Ojibwe people value in Ojibwe culture, values in Dakota culture. It’s about being a good relative you know, sort of leading with that belief, right? That everything you’re doing is to help the person you know, help the person next to you and outside of you. So it really is looking inward. It’s looking to our own cultures and values beyond that, right. It really is also embracing and thinking about past leaders, Indigenous leaders, Native leaders, and the way that we’ve always strategically kind of maneuvered within the federal government, within our own different relationships with different communities. There’s just something really powerful and important within Indigenous leadership that does stem from that. The value, right? The value approach first.
Leah Lemm: Great. Well, I know we talked, you know, in our past conversations, but why don’t you tell us a little bit about you and your gift that you see yourself having and contributing. What sparked that?
Dr. Amber Annis: I love that question. When you think about them as gifts, that’s exactly what we say. You know, when we’re doing that work of building up, you know, Indigenous leaders, Native leaders. The one thing I’ve always leaned on, and I’ve always believed in is kindness and empathy and how you connect to people. A joke I have is, it’s because I was the middle child, and so I really got, I kind of, you know, I just grew up being a mediator, uh, those skills, you know, I mean, they kind of carry through for me. But because, you know, because I believe really strongly in kindness and how you treat other people, and at people’s core, they just want to be heard. They want to be treated well. And also they want to know that their story, whether they think they have one or not, matters and that people are interested in it. That was something you know you have to be really diplomatic. I know when you work in either public history or the public sector, or you’re working with a lot of different Tribal Nations, I think you know you do have to have that approach of hearing so many different views, having so many different conversations going on at the same time, navigating a lot of really tough conversations too. That’s always gotten me through and boded well for me, I think, is that kind of approach of listening and hearing people and wanting the best for people and knowing that that’s just kind of an essential right, a value.
Leah Lemm: You’re listening to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Today we’re speaking with Dr. Amber Annis. Amber is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Executive Director for the Native Governance Center.
Cole Premo: Could you talk to us a little bit about some mentors, those who have inspired you on your journey? Anybody you’d like to shout out to?
Dr. Amber Annis: So many people. One of the things I’ve been thinking about since I started Native Governance Center is all of the folks who made all of this work possible, made our organization possible. It’s very true, as we all know, all of the people whose shoulders we stand on, all the work that they did that got us to this point. There’s a lot of mentors for me, but I think recently, and I’m going to focus mostly on the Native Governance Center, because in terms of people I reached out to and had conversations with around this work, our board is pretty amazing. At Native Governance Center, our board is a pretty strong board, and there is someone on the board. Her name is Megan Hill, and Megan Hill, let me get her exact title, Director of Honoring Nations. I’ve known Megan for a while, when I did some small work with the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, which it has a new name, and I cannot remember it right now, but I met Megan first, and I’m drawn to people that are kind. Drawn to people that are generally invested and, you know, want to hear from you and listen, actively listening, right? But Megan, her approach has always been really calm, and that, to me, is someone that I think of, from afar as a mentor. It’s someone who probably wouldn’t even, would be surprised that I was saying this right now, right, that I was, you know, mentioning her name, or saying her name. And she was one of the reasons, when I saw that she was on the board, that even, you know, for me, it was like, oh gosh, this is just coming around full circle. Megan’s on the board. I can continue to learn so much from her, and I really have, I mean, she’s, you know, she’s just an amazing, amazing woman.
Leah Lemm: So, I told my husband that I was talking to Amber today, and he like oh…
Dr. Amber Annis: He’s a Rebuilder.
Leah Lemm: He was in the First Cohort.
Dr. Amber Annis: Yes, he was.
Leah Lemm: He was also a mentor on the tribal finance program.
Dr. Amber Annis: That’s great.
Leah Lemm: But he asks, when’s the reunion?
Dr. Amber Annis: Okay, here, yeah, all 245. I want you to tell this is for all the rebuilders listening right now.
Leah Lemm: Oh, all right, breaking news.
Dr. Amber Annis: Breaking news, breaking news. Because that is the question I was asked the most when I told folks I was starting. When is the reunion? Hmm, and then from my Cohort, because we were the COVID cohort, how do we get a redo?
Leah Lemm: It speaks well to the environment and to the program that people want to get back together. That’s great.
Dr. Amber Annis: Absolutely, absolutely. And so NGC is celebrating 10 years in 2025. Is our 10th year anniversary. In October, we will be having a Native Governance Center 10 year celebration. We have just decided on those dates. We’re doing the internal work, saving dates. Doing a save the date. Emails will be sent out soon, but I feel very comfortable in officially announcing it here, and I need to make sure I get the dates right.
Leah Lemm: Please do.
Dr. Amber Annis: I set them. I set the dates so October 24 and October 25, we will be having a 10-year two-day event, two-day convening, NGC celebration. The first day, though, is really dedicated to our Rebuilders. That first day will be our moment, our opportunity, to, you know, the Rebuilders—that’s such a network of, like I was saying earlier, tremendous—your husband as an example—these leaders that have done so much work, and it’s an honor, right, that we have them as Rebuilders. It’s an honor to think about all the work they’ve done, and how do we bring all the Rebuilders back together? Because that foundation of Rebuilders I know is going to help us think through the next 10 years.
Leah Lemm: Nice. Well, I’ll put it on his calendar. Got it open right here.
Cole Premo: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. We always like to ask as we close out the interview, you know, if you have any final thoughts.
Dr. Amber Annis: You know, final thoughts for me are, thank you both, [Lakota language], for doing this kind of work, because what you’re all doing is really the same, I think, in terms of thinking about Native Governance Center and our programs and our leadership, it’s about empowering, right, Native people to share that voice, to remind all of us that you know what? Actually you don’t probably talk about it enough. And it’s probably clear through listening to me through this interview, we are leaders, right, and that we should really, you know, it’s important that people know about this work. But thank you for also being a part of what we call this kind of development, this movement of Rebuilders and rebuilding Native Nations comes in many different forms. It looks very specific for us what we do at Native Governance Center, but also rebuilding Native Nations comes from how much we can empower Native people and remind Native people that we matter, the work that we do matters, and that we’re all leaders and we need to lean into our own leadership style.
Leah Lemm: Absolutely.
Cole Premo: Yeah, thank you so much. I consider myself an honorary rebuilder then.
Dr. Amber Annis: [Laughs] All right, thanks. Bye.
Leah Lemm: Amber Annis, PhD. Yeah, I love it. What a fun person.
Cole Premo: I love her take on, you know, leadership, it’s just something that catches up to you. I know, personally, I run as fast as I can, but, you know, it catches you.
Leah Lemm: That’s right. Well, yeah, and that’s the thing. It’s servant leadership, yeah? Is that the right term? Yeah?
Cole Premo: Servant, yeah.
Leah Lemm: Or being in service.
Cole Premo: I guess. Exactly. It’s being a good relative, definitely. So thank you to Amber Annis, PhD, Citizen of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and the Executive Director of Native Governance Center. I’m Cole Premo.
Leah Lemm: And I’m Leah. Miigwech for listening. Giga-waabamin.
Cole Premo: Giga-waabamin. Leah Lemm: You’re listening to Native Lights, where Indigenous voices shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
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