BOARD MEMBER
Denisa Livingston, M.P.H., M.L.S., (Diné, New Mexico, she/her/hers) is an unapologetic Indigenous food justice organizer, Indigenous public health systems consultant, creative strategist, content creator, multi-epistemic researcher, and an heirloom food grower and Native seed steward. She is an Ashoka Fellow (‘17) and recently completed an appointment as a 2023-2024 Tribal Data Champion Fellow at the University of New Mexico. Denisa graduated from the University of Oklahoma, College of Law, Indigenous Peoples Law program. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). She served five years as the Slow Food International Indigenous Councilor of the Global North from 2017-2022 and four years as a member of the advisory board of the Slow Food Indigenous Peoples international network - Indigenous Terra Madre. She is committed to addressing food apartheid and nutritional trauma in Indigenous communities while addressing the invisibility of Indigenous Peoples by reclaiming Native truth and bringing awareness to the disparities and inequities in Indian Country that have been further illuminated in the pandemic caused by colonization, systemic racism, patriarchal oppression, and perpetual injustices. The work and efforts of Denisa focus on servant leadership, taste education, growing traditional Indigenous foods, gastronomy, creating new roles for society, and bridging community members to purpose and innovation.
Denisa has been a legislative speaker and community health advocate for the Diné Community Advocacy Alliance (DCAA) for over a decade. DCAA have been globally recognized for the successful passage of several laws, the first of its kind: Elimination of Tax on Healthy Foods with an emphasis on Indigenous foods, the Healthy Diné Nation Act of 2014 or Unhealthy Foods Tax, and a tax revenue allocation for Community Wellness Projects for all 110 Navajo Chapters Denisa also teaches how to prepare and cook heirloom Indigenous foods for the students at the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative Youth Summit at the University of Arkansas School of Law.
Denisa served as an Appointed Member of the Champions Network of the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit. For two years, she has been a planning committee member and emcee of the largest annual conference on Native American Nutrition. She completed the 2022 Partnership with Native Americans Four Directions Leadership program and served as a key mentor for the recent two cohorts. She is a member of the Rural Community Power Building Advisory Working Group, a founding member of the Slow Food Turtle Island Association, a member of a national Sugar Action Group, and served as an advisory member of the groundbreaking initiative, "Reclaiming Native Truth: A Project to Dispel America's Myths and Misconceptions".
Denisa is a contributor of the new book "The Slow Lane: Why Quick Fixes Fail And How To Achieve Real Change", a contributor of the award-winning anthology "Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health" and a contributor of the book "Unfinished conversations: On democracy, race, the economy, and a path forward". Follow DCAA and Denisa on social media @DineAdvocacy and @PrincesseDenisa