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\u201cI never thought of myself as pitiful\u201d\u2026 \u201cbut I struggled with the injustice of our history\u201d-- Jodi Gillette

Indian Country is humble. It encourages, as discussed on a previous episode, leadership as service. Jodi Gillette is a great example of this leadership style.

Jodi Gillette is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She grew up in Kyle, South Dakota. Jodi describes herself as one of the most fortunate people in the country because of where she is from. As a child she was surrounded by family and friends. Sports, ceremonies, and powwows were central to her childhood.

Her upbringing provided a solid foundation for her education and career. Jodi became well known throughout Indian Country through her service in the White House under President Obama. She was a policy advisor to President Obama on Native American affairs, and served in other key positions throughout her tenure in the administration. She now serves as a policy advisor at Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry LLP.

In this episode of the Lakota Voices series, we discuss Jodi\u2019s background further and how she ended up in the administration. The episode covers a lot of ground, and we didn\u2019t get to discuss other aspects of Jodi\u2019s life that has also received significant attention.

In this episode we discuss:

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• The role of sports in her life.
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• Shauna Long (Standing Rock Sioux), a professional basketball player in Morocco and daughter of a childhood friend.
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• How Jodi attended a math and science program at Phillips Academy, and eventually attended the boarding school for her high school education.
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• Her experience at Dartmouth (which she was admitted to after an essay made up for her SAT score), including how Jodi almost left school but Dartmouth went \u201call in\u201d to keep her enrolled.
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• How anyone can make a difference in the lives of others, and it doesn\u2019t need to be a grand gesture.
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• Jodi\u2019s determination to change the narrative told about Native peoples as part of her work as an assistant on the production How the West was Lost.
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• How hard it is to make change in tribal government...and how that experience was the best preparation for her experience at the White House.
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• Jodi\u2019s book recommendations of The Black Swan and Between the World and Me.
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• Her challenge to NextGen Natives: Learn your language.
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This is part 2 of a series called Lakota Voices.

For more episodes, subscribe to iTunes or Stitcher or visit NextGen Native to get all previous episodes.

Join the conversation using #nextgennative and #lakotavoices. Better yet, join the conversation in person with friends, family, teachers, elders and others.

*Credit to Jolynne Woodcock for the photo.