Native Plants & Foods Team

Valerie Segrest, an enrolled member of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, is a Native Nutrition Educator and Co-Founder of Tahoma Peak Solutions, specializing in strategic communications and food systems strategies for tribal communities. She holds a B.S. in Human Nutrition and Health Sciences from Bastyr University and an M.A. in Environment and Community. Valerie has dedicated her career to the food sovereignty movement, focusing on education and overcoming barriers to accessing traditional foods for Native American communities. She has co-authored publications like “Feeding Seven Generations: A Salish Cookbook” and “Indigenous Home Cooking: Menus Inspired by the Ancestors.”

Elise Krohn, M.Ed. is an educator, author, herbalist, and native foods specialist in the Pacific Northwest. She is committed to cultivating healing relationships between people, plants, places and cultural traditions. During her 20+ years of experience teaching in tribal communities, she has worked with elders and cultural specialists to create community gardens, food sovereignty resources, a program on healing addiction, and curricula on chronic disease prevention. Through leading ‘train the trainers’ workshops, Elise has multiplied the number of educators who are teaching about native foods and herbal medicines in tribal communities. She also has over 10 years of experience as a clinical herbalist, and has authored three books and numerous articles on this and related topics. She is the project coordinator on the Tend, Gather and Grow Teaching Toolkit and the Plant Teachings for Growing Social-Emotional Skills Toolkit. Her blog can be found at www.wildfoodsandmedicines.com.

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Mariana is a citizen of Yakama Nation, an íła (mother) and an artist with a passion for protecting Native foods and medicines and sharing their gifts in community. Mariana co-led Native student buffalo harvests in college which sparked her journey into Tribal Food Sovereignty. She worked for 7 years serving Native youth in leadership development initiatives nationally with the Native Youth Leadership Alliance and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Youth. She is a founding development team member of Tend, Gather and Grow curriculum. She holds a B.A. Degree in American Indian Studies from Fort Lewis College and is an Evergreen Longhouse Advisory Board member. Mariana is a 2021 NDN Collective ChangeMaker Fellow where she focused on expanding the Tend, Gather and Grow curriculum to Plateau Tribes. Mariana received the 2021 Potlatch Fund Spirit of Reciprocity award and the 2018 Inspired Native Award from Eighth Generation. Mariana enjoys gathering foods and medicines with her family, learning Ichishskíin (Yakama) language, designing earrings, and composing and sharing songs in community.

Kim Gaffi is the Co-Founder and past Executive Director of GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty). In serving the organization for more than 23 years, Kim had the opportunity to grow an idea from its seed into a community-loved and supported organization. Kim earned her BA in Community Development and BS in Environmental Science from The Evergreen State College and loves thinking about and working on the intersection of humans and the natural environment. Kim is a member of the Tend, Gather, and Grow curriculum development team. She brings her passion for experiential education & food justice as well as her skills in group facilitation, organizational development and educational policy.

Elizabeth (Spokane and Kalispel) is a Native Plants Educator and herbalist who is passionate about the cultural revitalization of traditional foods and medicines. She grew up harvesting native foods with her family. Elizabeth has developed curriculum and led tribal community classes and train-the-trainers workshops across Washington State since 2009. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from the Evergreen State College with special emphasis on the Practice of Sustainable Agriculture and Native American Studies. She continues to work towards increasing tribal food sovereignty.

Rachel is a Port Gamble S’Klallam tribal member, mental health counselor, and mother. She is dedicated to the healing and growth of Coast Salish People through the restoration of culture, including: traditional plant medicine, Indigenous family values, singing, dancing, carving, weaving, and ceremony.

Nora is an enrolled member of the Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho and a direct descendant of the Klamath Tribes of Southern Oregon. She graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health focused on Health Promotion and Health Behavior. In addition, she holds a Master of Public Health degree focused on Health Management and Policy from Portland State University. Nora is currently the Director of Food Sovereignty Programs with Tahoma Peak Solutions, a Native Woman-Owned firm focusing on strategic communications and food systems planning and design. Her expertise is developing, facilitating, and coordinating networks, coalitions, and tribal programs that address food sovereignty and systems, food security, and access to fresh, nutritious, and traditional foods.

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Emma Johnson, a Cowlitz Tribal member, received her BA in Cultural Anthropology from Washington State University Vancouver and her MS in Sociocultural Anthropology at Portland State University (PSU). Emma is currently the Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) Coordinator in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office at PSU. In this role, she focuses on community engagement, partnership development, and cultivating a sense of belonging for students. Emma is extremely passionate about place-based education and connecting people to the landscape by introducing them to plant and animal relatives. She feels at home in the world of tribal food sovereignty and strives to support the reclamation and restoration of traditional foodways in Indian Country.