Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine

Latest Episodes:

Dr. Antony Stately: Building Health Equity in Indigenous Communities Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

Today, we're excited to welcome Dr. Antony Stately to Native Lights. Antony Stately is a transformative leader dedicated to health equity in Indigenous communities. He's enrolled with the Oneida Nation, and he's a descendant of both the Red Lake and White Earth nations here in Minnesota, and he has two sons. He's currently the Executive Officer and President for the Native American Community Clinic in South Minneapolis, providing primary care, dental care and behavioral health services to the Native American community in the Twin Cities.

Antony gives updates on the long-awaited new Native American Community Clinic building and shares his hope that it can be a space where Indigenous people recognize, from the moment they enter, that it's a place for them and where they belong.

He also reflects on his youth and the early addictions that eventually led to a hospital room and a transformative moment that changed the trajectory of his life.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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Gary Farmer: Living Life on Screen for 50 Years Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

Today, we're excited to be joined by one of the most recognizable faces in Indigenous film. Gary Farmer is from the Cayuga Nation and has a long career in movies and TV, and he's a musician, performing with his group Gary Farmer & The Troublemakers. Among his screen credits are Smoke Signals, Dead Man, Powwow Highway and, of course, more recently, he played Uncle Brownie in Reservation Dogs. He's also a storyteller and a force for pushing for authentic Indigenous representation. So he joined us to talk about what's going on in his life, his music, his acting career and how they connect with his gifts and purpose in life.

Gary grew up in theater and has made a 50-year career on the big and small screen, most notabaly in Reservation Dogs. He's still working and taking on roles. He talks about what keeps him motivated and how his work as a gigging musician with Gary Farmer & the Troublemakers keeps him in shape for his acting day job.

He currently lives in Santa Fe.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood
Photo credit: Cara Romero Photography

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

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Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

David Amitrano: Witnessing Feb 26, 2026

Show notes

Today, Leah speaks with David Amitrano, the owner of Midwest All-Star Wrestling, a Minnesota-based, Native-owned independent wrestling organization in Woodbury.

He is originally from Ely, Minnesota and is a citizen of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. He and wife Brittney have four kids at home.

He got into wrestling as the CFO of Women of Nations, a women and children's domestic violence and sexual assault shelter. He's been there for over a decade. It's a 44-bed shelter for Native women and children but also women and children of all nations. It was founded in 1982. Located in St. Paul, it is one of the largest shelters of its kind not on reservation land.

In 2017, David was at work when he got a call from Jesse Ventura. He had seen a video about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. The shelter had been mentioned in the program. Jesse suggested doing a fundraiser and put him in contact with an owner of Midwest All Star Wrestling. David didn't know much about wrestling at the time, but they held their first wrestling fundraiser at the American Indian Center in 2017. It was a success and ever since they've done it every year.

After the fundraiser, he became an owner of Midwest All-Star Wrestling, which distinguishes itself as one of the organizations to highlight women's wrestling. His daughter is a huge wrestling fan. And one day she said, "How come there are no girl wrestlers?" So, he did something about it.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

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Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Nikki Love (Pieratos): Keeping Relatives and Neighbors Safe in Uncertain Times Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

Today, we welcome Nikki Love Pieratos to Native Lights. An enrolled citizen of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Nikki is the Executive Director of the Tiwahe Foundation, a community organization serving Native people around Minnesota. She’s also a part of the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors group.

Leah speaks with her about the impact of Operation Metro Surge on Twin Cities Indigenous residents and their neighbors. One impact has been an increase of Native individuals being stopped by federal agents. But, says Nikki, this has also been a time of the wider community coming together and putting themselves on the line to look after and protect their neighbors.

Nikki shares how she stays grounded with a prayerful attitude and a focus on the present.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

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instagram.com/mnnativenews

facebook.com/MNNativeNews

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Robert Lilligren: The Native Community Responds to Minneapolis ICE Operations Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

Today, we have a special edition of Native Lights to share with you. We’re talking with Robert Lilligren, CEO of the Native American Community Development Institute, which is based in Minneapolis. He is also a White Earth citizen. Robert discusses the unprecedented deployment of some 2,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents to Minneapolis and how that has impacted the Native community, especially in the wake of the Renee Good shooting by an ICE agent. He shares what it’s like to be on the ground in Minneapolis right now, why whistles are important, and what Native
leaders and organizations are doing to educate and protect the community. He also talks about the power of coming together, traditional pract ices and laughter during these uncertain times.

If you want to know what your rights are if stopped by ICE or Border Patrol, you can find that and other information on the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors website at MUIDmn.org.
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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood
Photo courtesy of Robert Lilligren
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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

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Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Victoria Marie: Learning to Surrender Jan 08, 2026

Show notes

Today, we’re excited to present Victoria Marie, an enrolled tribal member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. She's the founder and owner of Indigenous Lotus, a wellness program that combines yoga classes, tribal dance, exercise and meditation with an emphasis on helping people cope with stress and trauma. Those stressors can include PTSD, homelessness, sexual exploitation and poverty. In addition to classes and workshops, Indigenous Lotus has a line of streetwear.

Victoria shares the story of how, at age seventeen, she dropped out of high school, became a new mom and found herself struggling with depression. Her quest for guidance led her to the local library. There she found a book on meditation. That formed the foundation of her healing journey. When her son got older, meditation also became a shared bedtime practice for mom and son.

Later, yoga came into her life. After getting certified, she taught yoga and movement to the youth at Little Earth of United Tribes. That became the origins of Indigenous Lotus, her yoga studio. Her business has evolved to include public speaking, workshops, art and apparel.

Victoria talks about how a recent health diagnosis gave her permission to slow down, step back and surrender.

Victoria lives in Shakopee with her partner, their children, two dogs, three cats, and a rabbit who loves to shred cardboard.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

Photo credit: Victoria Marie

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

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Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Cole Redhorse Taylor: Creating Contemporary Work Through Connection to Traditional Art Forms Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

Today, we're excited to welcome Cole Redhorse Taylor to the Native Lights podcast. Cole is Mdewakanton Dakota and a member of the Prairie Island Indian Community. He's an artist, and has worked in many mediums: drawing, painting, beadwork, quill work, hockey helmets. He's created contemporary and traditional pieces heavily inspired by the artwork of his ancestors. And of course, if you're a sports fan, you may have seen his collaborations with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Wild.

Cole never thought of himself as an artist when he was growing up. Didn't he have to be able to draw a realistic portrait to be considered an artist? He couldn't do that. It was only later he realized he'd been making art all along, creating traditional beadwork, but not realizing it for the art it was.

He shares with us his evolving journey as an artist and how his art connects him to community. He also chats about books, travel, Disney World, the surprise controversy surrounding the hockey helmet designed for the Minnesota Wild goalie, and advice for up and coming artists.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

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Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Carl Gawboy: Remembering the Fur Trade Through Art Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

Today, we welcome Carl Gawboy to the Native Lights podcast. Carl, born to a Finnish mother and an Ojibwe father, was raised in Ely and is a member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe. Carl is an artist, whose primary medium is watercolors. But he turned to pen and ink for his recent graphic book Fur Trade Nation: An Ojibwe’s Graphic History.

For a number of years, Carl taught in the Indian Studies departments at the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota – Duluth. He was given an opportunity to develop a course and that turned into a history of the fur trade.

His research revealed that every Ojibwe person, in one fashion or another, worked in the fur trade industry—as trappers, guides, interpreters, cooks, canoe makers, etc.

He talks about the book that inspired him to turn his research into a series of black and white drawings. Those evolved into the 2024 book Fur Trade Nation and, more recently, Giclee prints and a calendar.

Carl and wife Cindy live in Two Harbors and enjoy spending time with their family and a special feline friend.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

instagram.com/ampersradio

instagram.com/mnnativenews

facebook.com/MNNativeNews

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Janis A. Fairbanks: Lessons Learned and Memories of Her Ojibwe Grandma Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

Today, we are excited to welcome Janis A. Fairbanks to Native Lights. Janis is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. She recently released a book called Sugar Bush Babies: Stories of My Ojibwe Grandmother, a memoir in lessons learned from her grandmother during the era of Indian Relocation.

Janis also has a doctorate in Ojibwe language, literature and history. She is currently the chair of the Language Advisory Board for the Fond du Lac Band.

Janis talks about a lifetime devoted to writing, a talent that she uncovered as a second grader trying to fit in. She wrote stories that enchanted her classmates, who called her "Ye Olde Storyteller." That recognition encouraged her to keep writing.

One of the most important and influential people in Janis's life was her grandmother. She always arrived with a bag, holding oranges and other goodies for the grandkids, and with stories. One was about her grandmother's birth at a sugarbush camp in a pit lined with cedar. Janis collected this and other stories in her memoir Sugar Bush Babies.

In our conversation, she also shares what it's like to be the mom of a five-month-old puppy, why some memories stick and other fades and her advice for aspiring writers.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

instagram.com/ampersradio

instagram.com/mnnativenews

facebook.com/MNNativeNews

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/

Wookiye Win: Digging for Artistic Inspiration (And Watercolor Pigments) in Nature Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Today, we're thrilled to speak with Wookiye Win. Wookiye Win, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is an artist and educator. She teaches the Dakota language for the Dakota Language Nest Preschool program at the Institute of Child Development on the University of Minnesota campus. She's also the illustrator of Dakota language children's books.

Wookiye comes from an artistic family and has always been creating art. But she never thought of herself as an artist. But when the COVID pandemic hit, she started looking for something to do at home and turned to watercolors.

Not only did she find a theme for her art in nature but also found the pigments for her watercolors. The idea of making her own paints started when she collected pipestone dust left from her father's pipestone making. Since then, she has expanded her homemade palette to include marigold, red ochre, yellow ochre, nettle, among others.

It's her passion to revitalize the Dakota language. She makes an effort to speak it at home and work and to always learn more. Together with her husband, also a language revitalizer, Wookiye Win shares five kids and a home in St. Paul.

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Hosts / Producers: Leah Lemm, Cole Premo

Editor: Britt Aamodt

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood

For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media.

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/mnnativenews/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/