Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California brings together Native leaders, advocates, artists, educators, culture bearers, and storytellers from across California. Through their voices, experiences, and expertise, the series explores sovereignty, identity, cultural continuity, storytelling, land, leadership, and the futures Native communities are creating.
Host & Story Weaver
Honorable Victorio L. Shaw, Esq.
Hoopa Valley Tribe
Victorio L. Shaw, a citizen of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, is the Chief Judge for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and the Robinson Rancheria Tribal Courts. He is a graduate of the UC Davis School of Law and has taught Federal Indian Law at UC Davis and Sacramento State. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of California Indian Legal Services and as general counsel for his own Tribe.
As a judge, he serves on the Judicial Council and the Tribal Court-State Court Forum, and he presides over one of the few joint-jurisdiction courts in the country.
In addition to his legal career, He has a bachelor’s degree in fine art and is an accomplished artist and musician. As a member of the greater tribal community, Mr. Shaw frequently contributes to educational workshops and volunteers to help Native children and families whenever he can.
Featured Voices
Judge Abby Abinanti
Yurok
JUDGE ABBY ABINANTI, Yurok Chief Judge, is an enrolled Yurok Tribal member. She holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of New Mexico School of Law and was the first California tribal woman to be admitted to the State Bar of California. She was a State Judicial Officer (Commissioner) for the San Francisco Superior Court for over 17 years, assigned to the Unified Family Court (Family/Dependency/Delinquency). She retired from the Superior Court in September 2011 and, on July 31, 2014, was reappointed as a part-time Commissioner for San Francisco, assigned to Dependency and Duty, for that Court, where she served until 2015. She has been a Yurok Tribal Court Judge since 1997 and was appointed Chief Tribal Court Judge in 2007, a position she held in conjunction with her assignment to the Superior Court until 2015.
Georgiana Sanchez
Chumash, O’odham
Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez is a descendant of the Islander and Coastal Chumash Peoples from her father’s lineage, and of the O’odham (Akimal and Tohono) from her mother’s lineage. She is currently an enrolled member of The Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation and Chair of the Chumash Women’s Elders Council for the Wishtoyo Foundation. She taught many different classes for the American Indian Studies Program at California State University, Long Beach, including classes she designed, “World Genocides: An American Indian Perspective” with Graduate Student Anna Nazarian-Peters, and “Conduits of California Indian Cultures: Art, Music, Dance and Storytelling.” She was a Board Member of the California Indian Storytellers’ Association for many years. She retired from CSULB in 2014, after twenty-seven years. She continues to be an advocate for California Indian Languages, ceremonies, and Sacred Sites. Her poem, “I Saw My Father Today,” is one of a collection of twelve poems cast in bronze and placed at the North Embarcadero in San Francisco, California.
Terria Smith
Cahuilla
Terria Smith (she/her/ella) is a tribal member of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and a proud original Californian. She is the editor of News from Native California magazine and director of the Berkeley Roundhouse, Heyday’s California Indian publishing program. Smith is also the editor of the 2023 anthology Know We Are Here: Voices of Native California Resistance and author of the 2026 book I Love You So Many: A Native Memoir of Adventure, Culture, and Family. She received her undergraduate degree at Cal Poly Humboldt (formerly Humboldt State University) and earned her master’s degree at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Cristina Gonzales
Chumash
Cristina Gonzales (Coastal Band Chumash) is a museum professional, professor, Chumash cultural practitioner, Šmuwič language learner, and mother.
Her mother‘s family descends from the Channel Island of Santa Cruz and the Mexican state of Zacatecas. Her father’s family is Seri.
Her passion is weaving, teaching, and dancing. In her professional work, she specializes in repatriation and taking care of cultural material at the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Yokut Tribe. She is also a lecturer in American Indian Studies at California State University, Fresno.
Cristina is on the UC Santa Barbara campus NAGPRA committee as a native representative and on the CSU Fresno campus NAGPRA committee as an American Indian studies representative.
She has her BA in History from California State University, Fresno, and her MA in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University. Ksukuš, with respect.
Cindi Alvitre
Tongva
Cindi Alvitre is a mother and grandmother, and has been an educator and artist-activist for over four decades. In the late 1980s, she co-founded Ti’at Society, renewing the Tongva maritime practices. She also co-founded Mother Earth Clan, a collective of Indian women who created a model for cultural and environmental education. Cindi is currently a faculty member at CSULB’s American Indian Studies Program. As a cultural curator, her work extends beyond the physical manifestation of museum exhibition and into ceremonial performativity, a genre of expression that engages participants in native landscapes as a dimensional “refocusing of our cultural lens”.
Corrina Gould
Ohlone
Corrina Gould (Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation) was born and raised in the village of Huichin, now known as Oakland, CA. She is the Co-Founder and Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native run organization, and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led organization within her ancestral territory. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on Native and non-Native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization and genocide, and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.
Nicole Myers-Lim
Pomo
Nicole Lim has earned advanced degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of San Francisco School of Law. She is Pomo/Miwok and has worked for the National Indian Justice Center and the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center (CIMCC) since 1996. As Executive Director of the CIMCC, she works to develop exhibits, educational programs, and curricular resources that represent Native American perspectives. She founded the Tribal Youth Ambassadors program in 2010. The program received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities in 2016. She co-edited On Indian Ground: California, the first in a series of books that focus on best practices for K-12 educators of Native students. California Governor Edmund Brown appointed her to the Board of Directors of the 4th District Agricultural Association, Sonoma-Marin Fair, where she served from 2013 to 2017. Nicole served as Vice President of the California Association of Museums (CAM) and previously co-chaired CAM’s Government Relations Committee. She also serves as the Secretary for the National Tribal GIS program and is a member of the Native American Advisory Committee to the University of California Office of the President. She also serves on T-Mobile’s External Diversity and Inclusion Sub Council for California and is the Chairperson of the American Indian Education Oversight Committee to the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Michelle Lee
Pit River, Cahuilla
Michelle C. Lee is a member of the Pit River Tribe and a descendant of the mountain Maidu and Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. She has been representing tribal governments for over 25 years and has owned and operated an Indian law practice since 2006.
As a new attorney in 1999, she negotiated her first tribal-state gaming compact with the State of California and has since successfully negotiated numerous amendments to other gaming compacts. In addition, she has negotiated a wide variety of government-to-government agreements on behalf of tribes, including agreements with cities, counties, State Parks, and federal agencies.
Michelle is also extensively involved in developing statewide policy in California on cultural resource protection, including drafting, negotiating, and ensuring passage of improved cultural preservation laws, such as burial-site protection and consultation requirements for new projects. She has helped tribes reacquire thousands of acres of land through direct purchases, grant-funded land-return programs, and donations. Since 2002, she has successfully concluded dozens of fee-to-trust acquisitions for her tribal clients.
Michelle received her B.A. in 1993 and her J.D. in 1998, both from the University of California, Davis. She was a recipient of the 2015 Truman Capote Creative Writing Fellowship and earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2017.
Juan Ángel Reynoso
nemuuly (bear), is shlaa (Two-Spirit) Ipai-Kumeyaay from the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians
Juan Angel Reynoso, nemuuly (bear), is shlaa (Two-Spirit) Ipai-Kumeyaay from the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, one of several sovereign Tribal bands of the Kumeyaay Nation whose unceded homelands span the imperial U.S./Mexico border from present-day San Diego County south into Ensenada, Mexico, and eastward toward the Colorado River. A Two-Spirit storyteller, teacher, and community weaver, Juan centers the voices and experiences of Indigenous-Queer kin across time—past, present, and future—through education, advocacy, and cultural celebration.
He is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Queer Sol Collective, an Indigenous-Queer nonprofit based in San Diego dedicated to activating emergence, belonging, and collective healing within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Juan holds a master’s degree in Teaching and Learning and California teaching credentials from the University of California, San Diego, and is currently a joint-doctoral candidate at the University of California, San Diego and California State University, San Marcos.
Across community spaces, Juan nurtures healing, connection, and pride among Indigenous and Queer kin, supporting their ongoing journeys of reconnection, self-definition, and self-discovery.
Erica Pinto
Jamul
Erica M. Pinto serves as Chairwoman of the Jamul Indian Village of California (“JIV”), one of the 13 tribes of the Kumeyaay Nation. Serving on the JIV Tribal Council for more than 27 years, Chairwoman Pinto has been elected consecutively since 1997. In 2015, she became the first woman elected Chairperson of JIV.
Ms. Pinto also serves as Chairwoman of the California Tribal Chairpersons’ Association (“CTCA”) and Vice-President of the Southern California Tribal Chairpersons’ Association (“SCTCA”). She is a Board Member on the Southern Indian Health Council (“SIHC”) Board of Directors, alongside other elected Tribal leaders in the region, helping improve the quality of healthcare in San Diego Native communities.
Closer to home, Ms. Pinto serves as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors for the Jamul Indian Village Development Corporation, the entity that owns and manages the Jamul Casino and JIV’s other economic enterprises. Chairwoman Pinto serves on several state transportation committees and is co-founder of the Acorn to Oaks tribal program, which organizes activities focused on culture, youth development, health and fitness, and technology – all designed to help prevent drug and alcohol abuse and teen pregnancy, while promoting education and family togetherness.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Ms. Pinto grew up with her three brothers on the JIV and Viejas Band Reservations, where she witnessed the hardships her people faced. Her mother, who has been active in Tribal government for several decades, instilled in her the importance of respecting our ancestors and giving back to JIV, lessons she carries with her to this day.
Darlene Franco
Wukchumni Yokuts
Darlene Franco is currently the Chairperson of the Wukchumni Tribal Council and CEO of the Wukchumni Tribe nonprofit. Darlene also serves as a board member of the Fresno American Indian Health Project, the Sequoia Riverlands Trust, the Marigold Foundation, and Quaker Oaks Farm. Darlene recently completed a 2-year commitment for the Agriculture Land Equity Task Force for the State of California’s Strategic Growth Council.
Darlene grew up practicing traditional ceremonies, singing, and learning the Wukchumni language, gathering and caring for native plants to eat, weave baskets with, and use as medicines.
After directing statewide Native language revitalization programs and working for other local tribal entities, Darlene was hired by FAIHP as a garden coordinator and eventually established the Native Wellness department, incorporating cultural practices for overall healing.
During the Pandemic, it became apparent that the Wukchumni community needed food sovereignty, and Darlene established the Wukchumni Farms. This volunteer community garden has grown to include fresh produce, medicinal plants, basket-weaving materials, a seed-saving shed, a nursery, a composting system, and eggs from chickens.
As CEO of The Wukchumni Tribe, Darlene also oversees the Youth Program, Wukchumni Language & Culture, Land Restoration, and the Wukchumni Community Land Trust, where a housing project is underway.
In April 2025, Darlene was named Nexstar’s Remarkable Woman of the Central Valley by the local news station, KSEE 24.
At the core of all of Darlene’s work is a commitment to staying rooted to the land while honoring her ancestors and serving her people.
Advisory Committee
The Reclaiming Our Stories Advisory Committee brought additional experience, knowledge, and perspective to the development of the series.
Christopher Peters
Pohlik-lah/Karuk
Christopher Peters (Pohlik-lah/Karuk) is the owner and Principal Consultant of Red Deer Consulting, an independent firm that provides identity-based cultural advising, mentoring, and capacity-building services for tribal nations and communities. For the past 32 years, he has also served as the President of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, a renowned Native-led and designed foundation for Indigenous Peoples, founded in 1977.
Over the past 50 years, Chris has been actively engaged in social justice organizing, protecting sacred sites, working for holistic community renewal, and supporting the revitalization of cultural healing traditions and strategies. His work includes close partnerships with local, national, and international tribal elders. He is especially focused on the renaissance of sacred knowledge and Earth Renewal ceremonies of Northern California Tribal Peoples. He has a BS in Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis, and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Stanford University.
Christina Snider-Ashtari
Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians
Christina Snider-Ashtari serves as Tribal Affairs Secretary to California Governor Gavin Newsom and leads the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs. As a member of the Cabinet, she oversees effective government-to-government consultation between the Governor’s Administration and California tribes; informs, develops, and implements policy directives related to tribal governments and Native American communities; oversees the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force and the Tribal Nation Grant Fund Program; and leads the California Truth & Healing Council, an effort aimed at shifting the California narrative and providing historical restorative justice for the first people of California. Secretary Snider-Ashtari is an enrolled member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians in Sonoma County, California.
Deborah Sánchez
Chumash, O’odham and Rarámuri
Deborah Sanchez is Chumash, O’odham, and Rarámuri. She was a Los Angeles Superior Court judge for 18 years, presiding over a criminal calendar, and served as supervising judge at the Bellflower Courthouse in Los Angeles for many years. For a period, she was the only sitting American Indian judge in the State of California. She took an early retirement in 2025 to complete her studies. She earned her master’s degree in linguistics in early 2026. A faculty member for the American Indian Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach, for over a decade, Deborah exclusively teaches American Indians and the Law. She serves on the boards of nonprofit organizations involving American Indian social, cultural, environmental, and health issues. Deborah is the Vice President of the oldest American Indian nonprofit in the United States, the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, which will celebrate its 50th year in 2027. She has been an international speaker on various indigenous issues, including water and land protection, sovereignty, recognition, and environmental sustainability. Her international work includes the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, as well as the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva. Deborah has been teaching Chumash to her community since 2010, has written many Chumash songs, and has helped revitalize traditional Chumash songs. She is the founder of the Chumash Cultural Collective and a traditional dancer, song keeper, regalia maker, and culture bearer.