Yakaiyastai Gorman-Etl

Yakaiyastai Nanabah Gorman-Etl is originally from Steamboat, Arizona of the Navajo and Cheyenne Tribes and is the first daughter of eight children to Beverly and Emerson Gorman. Yakaiyastai is a young indigenous scholar, mother, and wife who strives to learn more about how to preserve inherent rights for future generations through higher education. Along with learning her foundational traditional knowledge of Navajo teachings, she is self-taught in traditional herbal medicine, holistic healing, and food sovereignty. She grew up with a father who was known as a traditional medicine man and a mother who worked for John Hopkins Center for American Indian Health Center as a researcher. Raised in a traditional hogan without running water or electricity, Navajo spoken as their first language and raised with Navajo structural influence. She learned the importance of traditional values, holistic health and knowledge as it connects to sense of place as well as the person, she would become to help her surrounding communities.

Yakaiyastai is an alumnus of Northwest Indian College, where she also currently works. She is also presently attending Antioch University. At the Northwest Indian College, she has worked in various capacities of Wellness Coordinator and an Environmental Science Instructor. Having learned the importance of healing and medicine from both spectrums of traditional and western medicine, she utilizes her knowledge to bring equitable health initiatives on behalf of Indigenous people through her work as a Behavioral Health Program Coordinator and interim Community Health Program Coordinator.