Nikki Sanchez
Nikki Sanchez is a Pipil/Maya and Irish/Scottish academic, Indigenous media maker and environmental educator.
She holds a masters degree in Indigenous Governance and has completed her Ph.D. with a research focus on emerging visual media technology as it relates to Indigenous ontology.
Nikki has been the David Suzuki Foundation’s “Queen of Green” where her work centered on environmental journalism, social media and digital media creation to provide sustainable solutions for a healthy planet, as well as content creation to bring more racial and gender inclusivity into the environmental movement.
As an Indigenous media maker, Nikki’s most recent project is the 8-part documentary VICELAND series “RISE” focused on global Indigenous resurgence. RISE was debuted at Sundance in February 2017 and has received global critical acclaim, recently winning “best documentary” at the Canadian screen awards.
A TEDx speaker, her most recent presentation is entitled “Decolonization is for Everyone”.
https://youtu.be/pmxD-z1Y8GA
She has been a wilderness guide and environmental educator in the Nuu-chah-nulth territory of Clayoquot Sound for over 10 years, where she was mentored by Nuu-chah-nulth elders Tsahsiits and Qaamina Sam.
She is the creator and director of “Decolonize Together” a collective of Indigenous women who offer decolonial and inclusivity workshops and curriculum creation. Decolonize Together has been teaching and facilitating decolonization and anti-oppression training for universities, school boards, corporations, and NGOs for the past five years.
Nikki is a guest contributor for DavidSuzuki.Org, Loose Lips Magazine, and ROAR Magazine. She is a guest editor for the Royal BC Museum and on the editorial board for Intercontinental Cry. She is a part of the BC Women’s Foundation Youth Council, as well as a member of the Photographer’s without Borders Advisory Council.
In 2020 she released her book “Spirits of the Coast: Orcas in Science, Art and History”
Please contact us to book Nikki Sanchez for your next event!
-
Topics
- Decolonize Together: How to make the next generation proud
“This history is not your fault, but it is absolutely your responsibility.”
A history of colonization exists and persists all around us. Nikki discusses what colonization looks like and how it can be addressed through decolonization. An equitable and just future depends on the courage we show today. “Let’s make our grandchildren proud”.
- 10 ways to live sustainably in a time of climate change
We are living in environmentally urgent and uncertain times. The challenges we face are not only on our external environment but also on our internal wellbeing and mental health.
All of us can make a difference and this talk will offer 10 ways you can use your voice, your devices, your lifestyle choices or your time and talents to enact change.
- Gender Inequality and the 21st-century Womyn
How do you overcome a hyper-connected culture that objectifies and constantly minimizes women and non-gender conforming people?
By practicing self-care and radical self-love and acceptance, and dismantling the patriarchy one day at a time. As a survivor of sexualized violence, a disruptor in toxic masculinity and advocate for gender equity Nikki works to ensure the audiences understand that they cannot enact self-love without simultaneously dismantling gendered inequity.
- A Surprisingly Good Death: Lessons on medically assisted death
Tormented by an incurable disease, John Shields knew that dying openly and without fear could be his legacy, if his doctor, friends and family helped him.
His courageous decision to be one of the first to die by medically assisted death in Canada brought the story of his final days to the front page of the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/world/canada/euthanasia-bill-john-shields-death.htmlThis is the story of his daughter Nikki who was by his side through it all.