Specialty Areas: Plant medicine, postpartum doula care, baby boards, sewing, teacher

Semone Dittentholer is Winnebago and Yakama Nation tribes. Mother to Ella, who is three years old. She has been part of Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center since 2013 during the inception of the work. She is a Birth Justice Advocate and Doula for Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center. Over the years she witnessed and experienced how colonized systems have impacted women and families on the Yakama Nation Reservation and is dedicated to deconstructing them. Her focus is learning how to gather, grow and use plant medicine to support healing for families, pregnant women, and postpartum. Semone’s passion is driven from the deep understanding of trauma and how to navigate healing through her spiritual journey.

Email: semoned@ttawaxt.org

Specialty Areas: Birth and postpartum doula, office manager, food sovereignty, baby boards, sewing, teacher, mother circle, elder apprentice, Ichiishkin language

Leslie Muxiis Swan is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and Chippewa Cree descent. Mother of five children between six to seventeen. As an Indigenous Birth Justice Advocate, doula for Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center, and a language/cultural apprentice she loves instilling hope and healing in the community by creating ways for young families to reconnect with who they are as native people. Her favorite way of doing this is by teaching how to make baby moccasins/regalia, and cradle boards for expecting families. She grew up in White Swan, Washington at the base of the cascade mountains. She has followed traditional Yakama way of life gathering foods and medicines all her life. She believes strongly that connection to creator, mother earth, traditional foods and medicines, and return of language will heal the damages done by historical trauma.

Email: leslies@ttawaxt.org

Specialty Areas: Breastfeeding support, Indigenous childbirth education, medical provider education, babyboards, sewing, advocacy, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples advocate

Tashina Nunez is descendant of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Snohomish, and Niimiipu tribes. She is a mother of three children ages twenty-four, twenty-two, and eleven years of age, a new grandmother, and has been married for over 25 years. She is a registered nurse, with a specialization in trauma and emergency room care for over fifteen years and a sexual assault nurse examiner for over twelve years. She was raised at her maternal grandmother’s home on the Yakama Nation Reservation in Washington State.  Tashina is a Birth Justice Advocate at the Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center, and is dedicated to serving her people through compassionate care, healing though food sovereignty, and food as medicine. Tashina provides Indigenous Childbirth Education and breastfeeding support to families. Her future goal is to obtain her degree and become a family nurse practitioner for her community with the goal of decreasing maternal and infant mortality among Indigenous people.

Email: tashinan@ttawaxt.org

Jessica Houseman-Whitehawk is a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and Santee Sioux descendant. She currently serves as the Executive Director of  Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center. Starting with a GED she was able to earn her master’s degree in Public Health Services with a emphasis on community data collection, evaluation, and needs assessments. Throughout her career, she has worked in many positions locally, statewide, and nationally building public health programs and systems for tribal communities. She has three grown children she raised and one grandson. Jessica’s passion is fighting against oppressive systems and creating paths that honor tribal peoples’ history, culture, and strengths and ensuring Indigenous people are honored. She strives to build an organization with her team that is rooted in honoring restoration, justice, and repair from the impacts of colonialism. She has been serving indigenous families the majority of her life and fights for systemic change and justice in the maternal and child health field. She believes all of the solutions for thriving communities are carried with our Indigenous people.

Email: jessicahw@ttawaxt.org

Xtu Hawlaak Hawlaak, Cristy Fiander is a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. She is the Resource Manager at Yakama Forest Products and a graduate of Heritage University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science with an emphasis in natural resources. Xtu Hawlaak Hawlaak is an amazing mother of beautiful children and a proud grandmother. She has found many ways to contribute to her community as an EMT-b/dispatcher at White Swan Ambulance, Paraprofessional/substitute at the Yakama Nation Tribal School, and a Wildland firefighter for Yakama Nation. Xtu Hawlaak Hawlaak is a passionate food gatherer and a head cook for her family and community. Cristy contributed to initial research phase of Ttawaxt Birth Justice Center and is happy to continue to work as the Board Chair.

Cindy Gamble, MPH, CLC. Cindy is a citizen of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, and of the Kaax’oos.hittaan

(Man’s Foot Clan.) She has worked to support the health of women, birthing people, children and families as a childbirth educator, school family life educator, DV/IPV prevention advocate and Tribal Health Director. Currently Cindy works as a Tribal Community Health Consultant with the American Indian Health Commission (AIHC) as lead for their Maternal Infant Health and WIC and Nutrition projects. She represents the AIHC on a variety of state agency committees and work groups including the WA State Maternal Mortality Review Panel.  Cindy is currently the vice-president of the Ttawaxt Birth Justice Board and the past president of Nutrition First.  Cindy believes that the health and strength of Native families and communities begins with healthy mothers and babies, and integrating the wisdom and ways of our elders and ancestors into our daily lives. Cindy and husband Jerry have 3 adult children and 5 grandchildren.

I am of this land, born and raised on the Yakama Indian Reservation. I am a proud mother of 2 children, who’s had a hand is raising many. I am married to an amazing  tattoo artist. My passion for my community is embedded in my soul. I started out teaching at Head Start, which lead me to changing my educational goal to Social work. I received my BSW from Heritage University.  I find joy in reading, running and baking. My mom would always say “When you are called to serve, there is no other qualified than you because God qualifies your call” I was very fortune to work along my mother Carmanita’s side as the program director for the past 14 years. After her untimely passing, I stepped into this role as the Executive Director. It is my honor to server my community.

Kara Bensley, PHD MSc is a health services researcher, mom, and public health educator. Kara grew up in Michigan but has lived in Washington for most of her adult life. She is married to her high school sweetheart and has one child. She has supported Ttawaxt’s work for over a decade, mostly by supporting analytic and evaluation efforts. She has a PhD in Health Services Research from University of Washington and an MSc in Medical Anthropology from University College London. Her postdoctoral work was completed at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Alcohol Research Group (Public Health Institute). She is now a Senior Clinical Research Scientist at Providence Health & Services, where her research interests center on health services implementation, specifically in rural communities. She is particularly interested in addressing disparities in linkage to care for high-risk populations following guideline recommended screenings.