Kaylena Bray

Title: Contributing Writer

Location: New York, New York

Education: B.A. in Social Entrepreneurship, Brown University
M.S. in Environmental Change Management, University of Oxford

Expertise: Traditional foodways and farming, biocultural protocols, Indigenous environmental health, environmental science, Indigenous science
- Currently pursuing a Dr.P.H. at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Various publications on food sovereignty, including "Emerging Paradigm of Food Sovereignty in Native America" and "Indigenous Resilience and Restoration through Native Foodways"

Experience

Kaylena Bray (Haudenosaunee/Seneca) is from the Turtle Clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians. She grew up eating traditional white corn, which ended up fueling a career focused on strengthening Indigenous knowledge of traditional agriculture, Native foodways and environmental health. Her work throughout the Americas has served to educate and strengthen vital links between Indigenous food systems, local economies and climate change adaptation.

Kaylena's research and work is focused on raising public awareness about the vital links between food systems, Indigenous environmental knowledge and health. She has traveled the world for over a decade working in policy related to foodways and environmental challenges facing Indigenous communities. Kaylena is also the co-founder of Alianza Milpa, an Indigenous-led fund that supports networks and movements to maintain seed diversity across Turtle Island, Mexico and South America.