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    • MN Native News
    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
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      • Helpful Links about COVID19 in Minnesota
    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
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    • Native Lights
      • Biidaapi
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      • COVID-19
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    • DeCoded: Native Veterans Who Helped Win World War II
    • A Mile in My Moccasins
  • About Us

Leah and Cole: Sharing Our Gifts and Purpose

Native Lights September 16, 2021

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine

Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

On today’s show, we turn the microphone on each other!  No guest today… instead, we ask each other some questions about our own purpose and passions, starting with music.  Cole tells some stories about discovering his love for making music and the many mentors who helped him on his path.  Leah shares a sweet story of her first solo singing performance in kindergarten, and how she is passing her passion along to her son.

Most of all, we love hosting this podcast and getting the honor of amplifying Native Voices, meeting new people, and hearing how community members are uncovering their gifts and living their purpose.  

Would you or someone you know be a great guest on Native Lights?  Drop us line at: nativelights@ampers.org.

Check out Cole Premo music here: https://soundcloud.com/cole-e-premo

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.

Subscribe to Native Lights wherever you get your podcasts

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More from Native Lights

  • Alex Kmett: Culture as Curriculum, Language as Medium
    Today, we’re speaking with language revitalization leader and cultural educator Alex Kmett. Alex is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. He’s a 2026 Bush Fellow and a co-founder of a charter school in Red Lake Nation.
  • Ryan Dixon: Making Friends with the Dakota Language
    Today, we’re speaking with Ryan Dixon. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge in South Dakota and has spent over two decades immersed in the Lower Sioux community in southern Minnesota. He trained under First Language Dakota speakers, and he now teaches Dakota. An educator and Indigenous language activist, he co-founded a Dakota Immersion Head Start programming and works to keep the language alive for future generations.
  • Michael Kurtz: Tales of a Wildlife Photographer
    Our guest today is a photographer who takes some stunning photos of wildlife. We’re very excited to speak with Michael Kurtz (Tasunka Opi). He’s Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He runs Lakota Photography, blending wildlife photography, tracking, and cultural education. He’s also a naturalist and has volunteered with groups like the National Park Service and Project Coyote. He has spent countless hours across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and beyond, capturing wildlife in its natural habitat. Currently, he’s supervisor of programming and interpretation with Hoċokata Ṫi Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.
  • Kent Estey: The Art of Survival
    On this episode, we speak with contemporary artist and White Earth Nation citizen Kent Estey. Kent paints at his home studio in Naytahwaush, in the heart of the White Earth Reservation. He’s known for really bold abstract landscapes, acrylic, oil, ink, and metal. He’s also an author. In 2025, he released the children’s book Picking Sweetgrass. His latest exhibit, “Mino-Bimaadiziwin: The Good Life” runs through Labor Day weekend in Detroit Lakes.
  • Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon: How a Minneapolis Rap Artist Learned How to Sing and Make a Difference
    We are very excited to speak with Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon. He is a Mdewakanton Dakota and Boricua (Puerto Rican). He’s a rapper, singer-songwriter, and producer who calls South Minneapolis home. In addition to his music making, he’s an educator. He teaches youth music production, songwriting, and recording through his music production program “.WAVWARRIOR”.
  • Alex Kmett: Culture as Curriculum, Language as Medium
    Today, we’re speaking with language revitalization leader and cultural educator Alex Kmett. Alex is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. He’s a 2026 Bush Fellow and a co-founder of a charter school in Red Lake Nation.
  • Ryan Dixon: Making Friends with the Dakota Language
    Today, we’re speaking with Ryan Dixon. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge in South Dakota and has spent over two decades immersed in the Lower Sioux community in southern Minnesota. He trained under First Language Dakota speakers, and he now teaches Dakota. An educator and Indigenous language activist, he co-founded a Dakota Immersion Head Start programming and works to keep the language alive for future generations.
  • Michael Kurtz: Tales of a Wildlife Photographer
    Our guest today is a photographer who takes some stunning photos of wildlife. We’re very excited to speak with Michael Kurtz (Tasunka Opi). He’s Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He runs Lakota Photography, blending wildlife photography, tracking, and cultural education. He’s also a naturalist and has volunteered with groups like the National Park Service and Project Coyote. He has spent countless hours across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and beyond, capturing wildlife in its natural habitat. Currently, he’s supervisor of programming and interpretation with Hoċokata Ṫi Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.
  • Kent Estey: The Art of Survival
    On this episode, we speak with contemporary artist and White Earth Nation citizen Kent Estey. Kent paints at his home studio in Naytahwaush, in the heart of the White Earth Reservation. He’s known for really bold abstract landscapes, acrylic, oil, ink, and metal. He’s also an author. In 2025, he released the children’s book Picking Sweetgrass. His latest exhibit, “Mino-Bimaadiziwin: The Good Life” runs through Labor Day weekend in Detroit Lakes.
  • Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon: How a Minneapolis Rap Artist Learned How to Sing and Make a Difference
    We are very excited to speak with Rafael Gonzalez, aka, Tufawon. He is a Mdewakanton Dakota and Boricua (Puerto Rican). He’s a rapper, singer-songwriter, and producer who calls South Minneapolis home. In addition to his music making, he’s an educator. He teaches youth music production, songwriting, and recording through his music production program “.WAVWARRIOR”.
Previous Post: « Being a Good Relative in Complicated Times
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