Through Art and Words, Kanyon Sayers-Roods Creates Connections
Kanyon Sayers-Roods is Costanoan Ohlone-Mutsun and Chumash; she also goes by her given Native name, “Coyote Woman.” She is proud of her heritage and her Native name—though it comes with its own back story—and is active in the Native community. The daughter of Ann-Marie Sayers, she was raised in Indian Canyon, trust land of her family, which is one of the few spaces in Central California available to the Indigenous community for ceremony.
Sayers-Roods is an artist, poet, published author, advocate, student and teacher. Her art has been featured at the De Young Museum, SOMArts Gallery, Gathering Tribes, and powwows and Indigenous gatherings, and in SNAG Magazine. She is a recent graduate of the Art Institute of California, Sunnyvale, where she earned associate and bachelor degrees in web design and interactive media.
She is motivated to learn, teach, start conversations around decolonization and re-indigenization, and to continue doing what she loves: art.
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Here are some highlights from the LIFT Economy podcast interview with Sayers-Roods:
- Her experience as an ancestor in training and an Indigenous entrepreneur.
- The importance of establishing authentic relationships through asking, listening, respecting, humility and granting permission.
- Why we should be shifting policy to authentically understand and respect local Indigenous cultures.
LIFT Economy is an impact consulting firm with a mission to create, model and share a locally self-reliant economy that works for the benefit of all life.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
Start the Conversation: Decolonizing and Re-Indigenizing Relationships was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
