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Lauryn 🤎

@blessedafroindigenous

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ᴍᴠꜱᴋᴏᴋᴇ ₊˚.༄ ᏣᎳᎩ
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🦅 #powwow

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Last year of Grad school for my
Miss🍯!!

@universityofkansas
#rockchalk
#jayhawks
#proud #mom
Let’s Get IT!!! 🫶🏽🌸

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& that’s that!

#IJF2026 #imc2026 #indigenousjournalistsassociation
📸 @_codyhammer_

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#blessed 🙏🏽🖤🫶🏽

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The moment all you have been waiting for— this year’s fit check at our #IndigenousMetGala Media Awards Banquet!

As our last event of the conference, participants dressed up and showed out with their #culturalfashion! The night was full of celebration for our journalists and change makers across the globe.

Although this marks the end of the conference, stay connected to #IJA by following us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok!

We can’t wait to see you in Minneapolis next year.

Filmed by: Lauryn Callis, Bella Trigg, and Connor Arakaki

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During last day of the 2026 #IndigenousMediaConference Lauryn Callis (@blessedafroindigenous, Bella Trigg @bellatriggg, and Connor Arakaki interview three attendees at this year’s gathering.

Although they annually participate at IMC, each conference-goer gains valuable skills while returning to Indigenous journalism in their own communities.

The last stop will be the #MediaAwardsBanquet, where cultural fashion is the dress code!
Stay tuned for a fun video of all the fit checks! #Indigenousmetgala #IMC2026 #Indigenousmedia

Photo credits: @tararoanhorse
Tristan Ahtone, Jill-Marie Gavin, and Melissa Green-Blye share their favorite conference moments and why they love coming back each year.

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Having the Indigenous Media Conference in Portland with our tribe being the first ever Wampum Sponsor and title sponsor tribe was such a blessing and honor. Can’t wait to see all the photos on my camera. For now here’s some photos from my phone I was able to snap or have someone else snap for me 🥰🪶📸

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It’s the final day of #imc2026 (I know, we’re sad too). IJA fellow Lauryn Callis (Muscogee and Cherokee) gives us the rundown on Friday, July 24—panels on visual storytelling, documentary screenings, and the night wraps with the Indigenous Media Awards banquet honoring excellence in journalism. By Lauryn Callis (Muscogee and Cherokee), Bella Trigg (Yup’ik) and Connor Arakaki (Kanaka Maoli)

IJF IndigenousMedia IndigenousJournalists IMCPDX IndigneousMediaConference

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It’s been a busy two weeks! Here are some highlights from the KU Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival last weekend: Band pics with the Indigenous Arts Initiative artists, film screening with Blackhorse Lowe, Nataanii Means show, prepping bead supplies for the ICF workshops, workshops with Tara Mitchell and Phillip Pursel, Tweesna rocking her ledger art regalia inspired by last years IAI, and I don’t usually get the opportunity to dress out and dance but made it a priority this year since my intern Lauryn entered the area and Rubina came and surprised me!

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FULL VIDEO ON YOUTUBE:
youtube.com/blessedafroindigenous

Southern Cloth Dance celebration for @blessedafroindigenous
(my baby girl) 😊🩷
Proudly representing:
#ados
#muscogee
#cherokee
NATIONS!!!

Blessed to have so many family & friends, to follow Lauryn in the dance circle!!
Thank you guys!! 👏🏽🎉💛

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Reconnection Through Afro-Indigenous Couture

Lauryn Callis (Muscogee, Cherokee)
Graduate student, Indigenous Studies, University of Kansas

This piece reflects my journey of reconnecting with my Afro-Indigenous identity. I created this look by bringing together elements that represent both my Black and Indigenous lineages—not as separate parts, but as something that exists together within me.

The appliqué bag includes Muscogee and Cherokee symbols and is central to this piece. The braided ribbons on the bag are inspired by Black childhood—by the experience of getting my hair braided and the care Black mothers put into their children. I braided three sets of ribbon strands, representing sacred balance and connection.

Rather than separating these parts of myself, I honor and embrace my journey through creativity and higher education—with care and confidence, always.

Included Elements:
• Ribbon skirt, handmade by the artist
• Dentalium earrings, handmade by Shelley Eagleman-Bointy
• Belt, created with the Haskell community
• Ghanaian necklace, “Odo Nnyew Fie Kwan” (love never loses its way home)
• Shell necklace, passed down
• Pink kokum scarf, styled as a headwrap

Tiny Exhibits is located on the 3rd floor of Snow Hall on the campus of the University of Kansas

#tinyexhibits

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Black History Month is about sharing, learning, and amplifying Black voices.

FNSA wants to amplify those voices of our Black and Indigenous relatives this month.

We have @melaninmvskoke, @netooeusqua, @apowll, @srpowll, and @blessedafroindigenous.

Interact with their pages and give all the love and support they deserve.

Remember Black History is your history too!❤️🤍🖤💚💛

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