Core Team
The Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN) is an organization by and for Indigenous youth that works across issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice throughout the United States and Canada. NYSHN is lead by and for Indigenous youth 30 years of age and under.
The Core Team at NYSHN takes care of our home fire, which means these are the people who field your requests, answer emails, handle all our admin, and support local regional teams! The Core Team works to make sure youth leaders have what they need to do the work they want to do in our communities! We are always looking for new members for our team and network. Have questions? Check out our FAQ.
In addition to our Core Team and regional youth leaders, NYSHN is advised by 3 Youth Councils:
National Indigenous Young Women's Council (NIYWC)
National Indigenous Youth Council on HIV/AIDS (NIYCHA)
National Native American Youth Council on HIV/AIDS (NNYC-HIV).
Emma (they/them) is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe & Chippewa) youth, who is Turtle Clan and Two Spirit from Sharbot Lake, Ontario. They have been running wildly through NYSHN projects since summer 2009 and their mother brought them along to the Grandmother Spirit project meetings. Now, as an older-younger person, they direct that passion towards empowering Indigenous youth in communities across turtle island to engage in the work that they know to bring back the healing, strength, and inherent sexy resilience of their communities and families.
Jamey (they/them) is a queer and trans youth of mixed settler and Metis/Cree ancestry living and working in Amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton). Jamey is passionate about social justice, sex education, harm reduction, and disability and 2SLGBTQ+ activism. They enjoy workshop facilitation, working on research projects, and developing educational content. Jamey first got involved with NYSHN in 2017 and completed a practicum with the network in the summer of 2022, they are now a part of NYSHN’s core team. Jamey holds a Bachelor in Child and Youth Care with an Indigenous Specialization from the University of Victoria. They have a work and volunteer background in Indigenous outreach/harm reduction, sex worker outreach, court support work, and child and youth advocacy.
Shane (they/them) is an Anishinaabe-Métis Two-Spirit and trans educator and artist from Tkaronto, Dish with One Spoon Territory. They have worked in the fields of sexual health and reproductive rights, land-based education, front line peer support and crisis intervention, community-based arts facilitation, and grassroots community development. Shane is passionate about being on the land, plant medicines, care-taking kiddos, art making, transformative justice, Anishinaabe pedagogies, and building affirming cultural spaces for Two-Spirit, trans and queer youth in their communities. Shane has been teaching and facilitating conversations around space building, education, and cultural safety for over 10 years. As an older-younger person, they are really invested in skillshares and knowledge transfer so feel free to hit them up if you need support!
Yvonne (she/her) is a Métis iskwew from the Poitras/Richot families in St Boniface, Treaty 1 Territory. Yvonne is one of the Social Media Coordinators at the Native Youth Sexual Health Network. She is currently living in unceded traditional Lekwungen territories on the west coast while studying. Yvonne is passionate about revitalizing holistic wellness; especially in sexual and mental health amongst Indigneous youth. In her spare times she enjoys beading, weaving, and manifesting liberating futures!
She is always down to bead a condom and talk about birthwork and destroying capitalism!
Zephyr (they/he) is a Two Spirit multidisciplinary artist living in Tkaronto, with relatives from Munsee Delaware First Nation, Alderville First Nation, and Ireland. Through a varied multimedia arts practice that includes film, game design, illustration, earthwork, beadwork, and drag, Zephyr explores cultural revitalization, Indigenous language reclamation, and what it means to be a two spirit urban Anishinaabe and Lunaápe person. Zephyr has been a part of the NYSHN network in ever-evolving capacities since 2013, and is currently taking on web & graphic design, workshop facilitation, and the niizh jijaag gashkibijigan: Building Our Bundles of Support with Two-Spirit Youth project.