Rhonda Kay Alak Anderson

Rhonda Anderson is Iñupiaq – Athabascan from Alaska. Her Native enrollment village is Kaktovik. Her life work, most importantly, is as a Mother, as well as a classically trained Herbalist, Silversmith, and activist. She works as an educator within area schools and the five colleges near her home in Massachusetts. Rhonda has sat on several Indigenous panels and roundtables to discuss how to implement the Hyde Amendment within all IHS institutions across the United States, how to better educate Native students in Massachusetts, issues regarding Native teen drug and alcohol use, land acknowledgments, land back movement, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, and reproductive rights. Her activism ranges from removing mascots, Water Protector, Indigenous identities to protecting her traditional homelands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the extractive industry. Rhonda is a founder and former co-director of Ohketeau Cultural Center and Native Youth Empowerment Foundation.

“Vital. Vibrant. Visible: Indigenous Identity Through Portraiture” is a collection and exhibit of portraits of native peoples of New England curated by Rhonda to raise awareness of contemporary Indigenous identity.

The Massachusetts State Senate and the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women have recognized Rhonda’s work as a 2021 Commonwealth Heroine. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Berkshire County NAACP Freedom Fund award.

Rhonda is the Western Massachusetts Commissioner on Indian Affairs and a member of the Governing Council of Mass Cultural Council.

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