Join Native author Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre and College Fund's Cassandra Harden and discuss how to share the ideas and the concepts behind the children's books Thunder’s Hair and We are all related “Mitakuye Owasin” with younger children. 

Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre is a Hunkpapa Lakota from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She has worked as a school counselor serving hundreds of students for 15 years and now works full time as an author and presenter. She was named the Great Plains Emerging Tribal Writer’s Award winner for her first children’s book Pet’a Shows Misun the Light. Utilizing her teachings from her Lakota culture combined with a school counselor lens, she has published five children’s books, with another planned for release in late 2023. Jessie was invited to be a guest speaker for Facebook and Instagram in the fall of 2021. Her passion is to help people remember their importance in life and to utilize their unique talents, to create better communities for future generations to come. Jessie is also a Lakota Jingle Dress Dancer and loves to educate others about Lakota culture using storytelling combined with traditional song and dance. In 2021, Jessie was named a future legacy leader by the Spirit Aligned Leadership Program, an international organization.

Monday, November 20, 2023 - 11:00 am (PT) /2:00 pm (ET)