Jordan Marie Daniel: Professional runner and Activist bringing attention to the Missing Murdered Indigenous Womxn crisis.

Jordan Marie Daniel is a Lakota professional runner and Activist raising awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn, girls, two-spirits, and relatives. Through her running, Jordan is representing Indigenous athletes and relatives, and the BIPOC community. She is an advocate for diversity, inclusivity, and justice for Indigenous, Black, Brown folx within these spaces.

She is the Founder of Rising Hearts which was born out of Standing Rock and the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. She is also a producer on the film The Sacred And The Snake. Following three Water Protectors – Lauren, Cheryl, and Olive – through their transformative experiences at Standing Rock and beyond.

On the show, we talk about her experience of moving to DC to be an advocate for Indigenous people. We also talk running, running through pregnancy, and MMIW. Jordan is holding a run to honor MMIW on May 5 which is the day honoring MMIW. You can learn more about it by following her insta. I’ll run it and I hope you’ll join us as well.

Don’t forget to follow the podcast on Instagram @dreamnationlove and sign up for the Love Letter a newsletter from Dream Nation Love. The link for that is on the insta and the website as well. The site is www.dreamnation.io

Transcript:

Yulia Laricheva. 0:0:00 Welcome to Dream Nation Love. It's getting chilly out or moving into November, which means Thanksgiving. And for this month for November, I wanted to feature a Native American activist by the name of Jordan Marie Daniel. She combines her activism with running to bring about awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, two-spirits and relatives.

0:25 I've been working on this really massive podcast for the last few years about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Jordan was a runner that really stood out to me. She ran the Boston marathon with this huge red handprint over her face, which is the symbol for the movement. She had the hashtags written on her body.

0:42 And she brought so much awareness to this issue because it is barely starting to make mainstream media. This story of course, is being picked up by the New York times and a few other outlets here and there. But every woman in America should know [00:01:00] about this, even though she was a part of this larger podcast that I'm doing.

1:03 I really wanted to interview her on the show by herself and talk about how you can combine your passions together into something that creates a really big wave in the world. She is also the founder of rising hearts, which was born out of Standing Rock and the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

1:20. I drove up to Standing Rock after the water cannons came in, but I will admit this and I'm a little ashamed. I turned around when I got there, because I was really intimidated by the local militia with. And I didn't want to deal with them. And I got so scared that I drove cross country, and then I turned around and went home.

1:38 It's terrifying, especially as a woman going out there and seeing these dudes with guns, there's also another issue happening right now. And it's called Line Three and that is also being fought by Water Protectors right now. It's not really covered in the media, but that is a big deal as well. And I'd love it if you Google it and bring a little bit more attention to it as well.

2:01 Because our lands are being poisoned for profit Jordan's work is amazing. She's also the producer on a film called the Sacred And The Snake that follows three water protectors, Lauren, Cheryl, and Olive, through their transformative experiences at standing rock and beyond. It's all about feminine energy is being disturbed, being suppressed, drilled, and being eradicated. And there's also a connection between oil man camps and missing women and also the sex trade. I'm, I'm really looking forward to this episode that comes out. It's so hard to work on because it's such a difficult topic, but I can't wait to share it with you because it's so, so, so important, Jordan, I talk about her experience of moving to DC and being an advocate for people.

2:48 Jordan's also holding a run to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women on May 5th, 2022 which is the day that is devoted to honoring, Missing Murdered Indigenous Women. You can learn more about it by following her Instagram @native_inla and don't forget to follow @Dreamationlove on social as well, and sign up for the Love Letter, which is a newsletter that I've been writing monthly from Dream Nation Love.

3:13 And the link for that is on the Instagram and the website as well. Sit back and check out this podcast and please share this info. With other people that are passionate about the earth, passionate about women's rates and passionate about protecting underrepresented communities. Jordan is so incredible and it was such an honor speaking with her. Enjoy the show.

3:43 The second podcast, because we talked about it during the first podcast. And I'm going to ask the same questions probably, but also focus it a little bit more on your routine and on your running, a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman. I'm wearing my orange shirt to represent it's a little orange. It's a little bit more salmon, but what was your dream?

4:01 Jordan Marie Daniel: My dream as a kid, if you'd asked my mom, it was to be a can of Coke, not sure why, but I think as I got a little bit older and had a little bit better understanding of the world and everything, I wanted to be a vulcanologist and study volcanoes or an archeologist and really be outdoors and the ground and in the soil and all of that. So I think that's what I definitely wanted to do. And then over time it evolves. 

4:28 Yulia Laricheva: Well, they're all kind of like eruptive, right? Like a chemical, this pretty erupted, like creates life. You're very eruptive when it comes to your work. So you are a force of nature. I guess it worked out. Okay. So how did you get from wanting to be like a can of Coke and wanting to be a volcano, to running? You said that your grandfather taught you how to run. 

4:52 Jordan Marie Daniel: Yeah. You know, I'm a fourth-generation runner, so it's definitely in our family and in our blood. And it's just something that I've always wanted to do and [00:05:00] be part of. And continue doing. So he's the one that took me on my first run and just really kind of introduced me into the world of running.

5:08 And it was like a love/hate relationship. I wanted to do it because my family did it. I liked it, but I wanted to try other sports. And my family really encouraged me to do that. They didn't want me to feel that pressure. So I did try other sports, but the one thing that always stuck out was any sport that had running.

5:26 That was the thing that I always strived at. So it just is like, okay, I guess I'll go back to track and cross country, and I'll keep doing this over time. It just evolved to family, to Native representation, to finally me finding it for the joy and the love of running and for myself. But that didn't happen until college.

5:42 It took a long time for me to find. And then it then evolved again to now intersecting running with advocacy and trying to raise awareness of the things that I care most about. But in terms of the work that I do, I've known since eighth grade, that I've wanted to be an advocate and [00:06:00] work in DC, be a lobbyist, help, influence change, or whatever that may look like.

6:06 Go be the Indian Health Service director, IHS director. And help make sure that our healthcare services in our communities are the best. And sadly, I have been part of those systems when we used to live there. They're not that great. And we've just had a lot of injustice even within that system in terms of our relatives.

6:29 And so that was my dream was to move to D C. She an advocate, be a lawyer or be a lobbyist or whatever that was. And that dream did come true. In 2013, after I had graduated college and was running professionally and working with Kana'sta Indian Nation and a Native non-profit at the same time when the opportunity presented itself.

6:51 And I said, yes, moved there. Luckily it was closer to my family and my parents who are two hours away from DC and just really started working with native [00:07:00] nonprofits, working on. Healthcare issues and organ contract support costs and special diabetes programs for Indians and native health youth initiatives as well.

7:11 And so I really enjoyed that work and really opened my eyes to what is happening in DC. Got to network to meet other Natives. And then I wanted to have that more on the hill experience. So I quit that job. Took an internship on paid internship with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree when started working there for about four and a half months and realized that's not for me, then I'm glad I tried it out.

7:35 And it was definitely an experience, but I was coming from a perspective of, I want change. I am here to make sure change happens for our relatives and for our communities and for our next generations. And when I was on the hill, walking those hallways, going to briefings, going to hearings or whatever it was.

7:55 I hardly saw people that looked like me. I hardly saw people of color and I [00:08:00] saw just so much privilege and so much money on that hill. And it was really discouraging to sit in rows, surrounded by other interns, hearing them talking and whispering with their friends about the bars that they got into how hung over they were, how their dad wired them money, or how their parents bought them a condo.

8:22 And that they got this position because their dad or parents are friends with this congressional member. And meanwhile, I'm working a part-time job that is minimum wage at an unpaid internship and just. Doing whatever I could to make ends meet and to pay the bills. And it was just really disheartening and it was so slow-moving and I saw how slow the process is going.

8:46 That when a bill is introduced, it never stays what it's truly intended for. So a lot of the bills that I got to see, or to help people to benefit, to expand resources and services, but to get support, you need people to [00:09:00] co-sign and like support. But then it comes about what are you going to do for me? What can I get put into this bill? What can I get included? And then it starts removing away from like the people and the impact that it's supposed to have. And so I just thought that whole process was really disheartening. And so I left didn't want to continue it and I realized I needed to get back into community.

9:21 And so I took a job with the administration for Native Americans, which had me really connected with a variety of different tribes and communities and organizations who were all leading their own programs, their own grant projects that we were funding. So I basically got to be like a grant manager and just cheer them on, make sure that things are going well.

9:42 I got to visit them and see the progress of these grants and their projects, but really got to see it from a side of like them leading these incredible efforts and these initiatives. Community and the world needs to see what we are doing in our own communities and we know what is best for us. And so I was really grateful to have that job [00:10:00] for a few years and be surrounded by incredible people.

10:02 And really just showed me how powerful we are as Indigenous peoples. That we have so much good that we need to talk about. We need to amplify as along with the bad, like the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn. The really horrible legacy of boarding school and residential schools, the injustice that indigenous peoples are experiencing as well as other communities of color and marginalized communities.

10:30 But we also need to like balance that out with good. And obviously, yeah, that's how I got into the work that I did. And it's just slowly transformed over the years. 

Yulia Laricheva 10:40 I think that's the best way to approach communities too. It's if you really want to make a change in your community, you just have to do it yourself because trying to go into politics, like you're just going to rip your eyes out because it gets so frustrating. And you have so many foundations that you're starting, you have rising hearts initiative, you have Running On Native Lands and through all [00:11:00] of these organizations, you have a production company. That's inspiring to see how much you're doing and you're pregnant and you're running. You're doing it. You're being at all.

Jordan Marie Daniel 11:09 Yeah, it can be a lot, but it's also very common. Sadly, I'm not the only one, the only Indigenous person, the only black person, like when you're in when you become grounded in your community you recognize how powerful grassroots power from the people is. I truly -- that's, that's what got me to rethink everything. I need to stop going the politics route.

11:32 We need to ignite and mobilize the people and get us informed, get us to coming together, putting on events and creating this change ourselves, to put the pressure on those in power, in those in politics. And that's just something that I really saw the benefit in and why I just love grassroots organizing so much and being in community.

11:51 It's very common to me, another organizer, someone who's very involved in community wearing several hats. I don't think I've ever really met anyone that I [00:12:00] know wearing just one hat where that's just the one thing that they do. We're so involved and sadly, sometimes spread thin. We're doing things at the expense of our own emotional labor, where a majority of the time sadly doing these things for free because either no one else will or.

12:20 We're worried that when we're provided these opportunities, but they're unpaid, we're worried that that opportunity may not be distributed to someone else like you. And then you might lose that opportunity to have a voice, to make something visible. So I definitely am not the only one that wears so many hats, sadly becomes very routine and you know how to manage it.

12:44 Balancing that really thin line of like "How do I still take care of myself within all of this and prioritize my own self-care and wellbeing to continue the work?" 

Yulia Laricheva 12:55 Yeah, there's a woman out there who's doing really great work. Her name is Alison Désir. Do you know her? She's [00:13:00] African-American and she has a bunch of running groups in New York. And I first heard her on the Two Black Runners podcast, which is really great. She's a mom too. Now as a mom, I'm like "What do I have time to do?" It's just, it's so hard. It's whenever I meet other moms who are doing things, I'm like I have "so much respect for you because time doesn't exist." 

Jordan Marie Daniel 13:19 Yeah. I got to speak to her Meaning Through Movement last summer. 

Yulia Laricheva 13:22 Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. I want to interview her at some point too, cause I think she's so inspiring and I want to touch back to what you said a little earlier, too, about food issues when it comes to reservations and when it comes to Native American issues and it's also like a problem in the African-American communities and deeper into Brooklyn too.

13:41 If you take the one to nine train [unintelligible], there's no healthy food. And I talked about this with, Hawk Newsome, President of Black Lives Matter New York. And we talk about how important it is to get food because it's just food deserts. And I don't think a lot of people know unless they've actually gone to these communities.

13:59 And this is something I feel really passionate about. And because you can't do anything, it's the food that you're eating is not helping. It's like the very basic thing and that, and I just want to make more people aware of it, just like Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women to just the food scarcity and food desert issues that face a lot of minority communities and how startups should be tackling this.

14:20 And people should be trying to help communities that already have these initiatives. And helping them create the food availability and it's like a podcast on its own. I can go into food and nutrition because like you can't run, you can't function. If you are not eating properly, especially as an athlete, if your training is hard.

14:46 And it's interesting that you started going into politics because the running world and politics are very similar, they're all run by white men. So, it's, so it's going to ask you for the running world — you know, there are people who are running [00:15:00] magazines, there are people who are the head of sports companies, and even running groups in New York and everywhere, because they're not necessarily like doing the child-rearing, they're just doing what they're doing.

15:10 And I was going to ask you, what has been your experience being a woman and a minority running in the community. Do you think it has improved? Do you think it's changed? Like, I go into races every once in a while here and there and for the most part, I still see white people running. And for the most part, I still see white people running when I'm out somewhere.

15:31 I know it's changing. And once in a while, like I'll run across a few people who are minorities running or walking. And, but you still it's a white male sport and sometimes it feels like you need money to be able to put on a pair of running shorts and like running shoes. Yeah. So what has your experience been like?

Jordan Marie Daniel 15:53 Yeah, it's definitely, I would say it has improved. Sadly, the only reason why it's improved in my opinion is at the expense of the death of George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery last year when racial injustice, social injustice became very visible to the rest of the world, even though it's always been visible to those coming from those communities, we've been surrounded by it.

16:17 It's in our lives. So, yes, it has improved, but my hesitation is this whole "Now we need to jump on the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, creating safer spaces, um, making things more accessible" bandwagon, but every brand and company that we've seen is "We need to change things." But for me, I'm hesitant because I asked the question "Okay, you're doing this because of this injustice that's on our phones, that's our TVs – that we have to watch. What is your sustainability plan? What is your consistency plan? How are you going to be consistent within this movement? How are you going to integrate social [00:17:00] justice into the work that you are doing?" And a lot of them are doing a lot of outward-facing change and light commitments.

17:08 And for me, I think before you do anything, public and outward-facing, you need to do the internal work. You need to reflect on your own policies and bylaws that are created. You need to do a self-reflection of your whole organization or the running groups and look okay. We're predominantly white. We have no diversity, even though we say we care about diversity, we need to change that.

17:31 So we need to do outreach as a running club, as a running group. And we need to connect with other running groups that are very POC-centered. I'm an organizer, and we need to co-collaborate. We need to try and create a safe space to make sure that they feel welcomed in our running clubs so that they feel seen and heard.

17:51 And if it's a company or a brand, you need to also have diverse people coming from different communities and backgrounds, because a lot of times these [00:18:00] companies are brands. They have athletes that are coming from these communities, but there is no other support beyond that. Besides just looking at them as "Oh, you're an athlete, you're fast, you do this."

18:12 And that's a lot of the issues that I ran into last year was now in the advocate. We want to sponsor, you want to have you like part of our family, our community. And when I was part of one community, it was very extracted, very isolating, very disrespectful. And I think when these brands and companies want to include community organizers and advocates that are also runners on their platforms, you need to make sure there are resources and pathways for them to feel supported and to succeed.

18:46 And if you're not going to take a stance on the whole social justice issue and in turn, make them feel bad about it, you isolate them, you alienate them, or you make them feel like it's their fault when they raise an issue. Because they're speaking up against something that [00:19:00] is clearly unjust. You need to treat them better, you need to do better.

19:04 And so that was sadly a horrible experience that I had last year before I joined the Rabbit Team and Ultra Team. But that's just one example. And that was a big company. There are tons more, and there are tons more stories that I've heard, but we need to call for accountability from these companies, these running groups, these brands to really create a safe space where we do address the issue of safety, because yes, we want all runners to be safe when they go out.

19:28 We don't want another Ahmaud Arbery to happen ever again. We want women to be safe, but we also have to break it down to, we have to break it down in terms of not only are women having to experience catcalling and feeling unsafe and doing all these things that we have to experience and endure. We also have to break it down by black women and indigenous women.

19:47 Like we also experienced, even more, I would say potential acts of violence. A lot of the same murder, indigenous relatives cases that are happening, and all of these unjust things. So like the overall goal. Yeah, we want everyone to be protected, but also how can we bring everyone up so that we are all on the same level playing field, where we have that same level of safety.

20:09 And I think that's something that's one of the biggest initiatives and conversations that we're having from Rising Hearts, myself with. Brands and companies are like, "How do we address safety?" And "What are the preventative measures that we can take?" "What outreach support can you be doing to make this more inclusive, to make this more of a safe space for us to feel like we can be part of this with?"

20:32 And I think there's just so much work to be done. I'm definitely seeing it and it's happening. I can definitely tell the difference between certain groups versus certain groups who are going about it the internal way first before they try and do any other big commitments versus the ones that are all outward first and they're creating good long-term plans.

20:53 And I think that's what has to be invested in as well. And investing in not only the person as the runner or the advocate, [00:21:00] but also investing in their community because that's who they're representing. That's who I bring to the table. That's who I bring to my sponsorships. It's not just me. You're not just sponsoring me. You're sponsoring all of my relatives, behind me, those who I'm running for in the community. That I'm part of that's who you're also representing. So I think, yes, we're seeing change. That is happening very slowly. But we need to keep pushing these conversations. We need to keep challenging these men in these roles.

21:27 Like you said, a lot of it is run by a lot of white men and if it's not, then it's by white women, how we need to challenge them. And I think we can do it in a way where it's effective, where it hopefully allows them to gain a new perspective rather than be threatened by it, or rather than infringing on their white fragility, which I've encountered a lot. And it's not that we're trying to do that. We're not trying to make you feel bad or anything, but we're trying to challenge you because this is an opportunity to learn and to do better. 

Yulia Laricheva 21:59 And I think these [00:22:00] conversations are, I think the change happened just so quickly. Like I was just talking with a friend how, like in 10 years, Ben Stiller movies just became offensive. You're just like "Oh my God. Like I try to watch The End the other day. And I was like, "Oh my God, this is offensive." Look, change happens so quickly. And in order to get people to start talking about it, people are. They have like whiplash. They were like, "What?" And it's hard to take a mirror to yourself and just go “What's going on?”

22:28 But I was also going to say that you brought up a really good point about races and, and just running, right? Because sometimes a race is organized. And you can be somewhere where it's not really necessarily friendly when it comes to women and minorities. And this is something that racers have to consider, especially for "How do you create a course that's safe." How do you make sure that the route is protected? So people won't get stuff thrown at them. There's not going to be any kind of aggression. And I think these are the opportunities [00:23:00] that we talk about. And you also have a really great initiative it's called Running On Native Lands. And I was going to ask you how people can participate in making land acknowledgments. You have a packet the groups can use and people can download it as well. But what are some ways that people can hear about it so they can go on your site and download it and start practicing it themselves? 

Jordan Marie Daniel 23:23 Yeah, they can obviously hear about it through this podcast or other podcasts that I've talked about it on, but this toolkit, this initiative really is to increase awareness about the lands that we're on and the people that are... That were and are the caretakers of those lands, and hopefully allows a runner or just an individual that's curious to gain a new perspective of how we connect to the lands, our relationship to them. How we can also participate in being a caretaker in protecting these resources in the lands that are constantly being threatened every single day due to climate [00:24:00] change.

24:00 And the fossil fuel industries, extractive industries, but that allows us to connect better with nature. To disconnect from everything of the day-to-day technology, whatever it is, but to truly get that sense of deeper connection to our surroundings and our place in this world. And potentially maybe even our responsibility to protect and [unintelligible] call grandmother earth.

24:24 So people can go to our website on www. risinghearts.org, and visit and learn more about the initiative. You can download the toolkit on the page. There are examples of what a land acknowledgment looks like. You can implement these in your Instagram stories or your posts. That's something that I do a lot of the time is I'll acknowledge the lands that I'm on, where a photo was taken, or you can put it in the ad location. I know some of those are being increased now, but with people doing that, and it could be something as simple as "Okay, I'm going to add this in my email signature." so my email signature will also say the lands that I'm on my [00:25:00] work email with UCLA has that. And this is just our small contribution that we can make to honoring and uplifting Indigenous peoples, but also taking it a step further of how can we give back beyond just a land acknowledgment.

25:15 People are also kind of seeing land acknowledgments and they're being treated as a check in the box of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. So when we work with race directors or coordinators or companies or brands that want to partner with us on this, we are like, we were like "Okay, you have to commit to the first one, which is the land acknowledgment we're going to help facilitate these conversations. And if your event's happening in person, we'll try and get someone that is actually in-person, that is indigenous to those lands to come there and you'll compensate them or we'll help compensate them. Cause we have some funds for that. But you're going to take it a step further by committing to at least two more or all of the remaining asks that we have."

25:54 So it's donating entries to the youth programs, to the community that they can distribute themselves so that they can be part of these events and the races can feel included. And so that they way they can see themselves as someone is giving that land acknowledgment. They see someone on that stage.

26:10 And so it's also donating back a portion of the proceeds that are raised through all of the registration fees and donations, donating it back into the tribe or the organization that you're working with. But the whole end goal is to continue this relationship beyond just this one-time event. So if you're there every year, you should be working with them every single year and incorporating them more and more. Beyond the first one. And so I'm really excited cause this weekend I'm actually going to Rising Hearts first-ever in-person land acknowledgment that we've been able to see because a lot of them have been happening all over the United States from some of our partners or they've sadly had to turn virtual, so it couldn't really happen, but they still gave some sort of land acknowledgment, but this is the first time they actually get to go drive to it. Cause it's within a few hours, I'm going [00:27:00] to stay there and we got an incredible Indigenous Chumash woman to give the land acknowledgment in person. So I'm excited to introduce our initiative to introduce why it's important, but also introduce Mia (Lopez) who's Chumash and is an incredible leader and a voice in her community. And then the event coordinators who have committed to being able to donate back into the organizations and the community that she represents and suggested. So I'm really excited for this relationship to grow, but I'm really excited for people who are not Indigenous that are going to be there.

27:32 At the stage watching and listening to all of this to be exposed to something new. And hopefully, this gets them thinking "Oh, this is how I can give a land acknowledgment." These are the steps that I can do. And when you visit our toolkit, we also have resources for you to either download or if it's an app or if it's a phone number, Google is always your next best thing.

27:51 I wouldn't rely on all of the technology that we've listed. Cause sometimes they can get it wrong or they forget, and a nation that wasn't included because — [00:28:00] I think people need to realize throughout history, we were very mobile. Like we were nomadic, we did move around with the seasons with the animals.

28:08 So we were kind of across a various variety of different lands. So we need to also recognize that. So always follow it up with, if you're going to do the app, follow it up with a Google search too, because that's where I've also found that sometimes the app was missing certain communities. So that's the one way to get involved, how to learn about it, and hopefully the impact.

28:29 Is what I'm hoping happens is gaining a new perspective, being in community, being able to honor and remember, but also being able to have a deeper connection to our surroundings and to each other. 

28:41  I think that's so lovely. And I think, especially with the pandemic, people are going out a lot more and this is the perfect chance to get to know your environment and the history of the land that you're on. Because a lot of people don't even know the history of the land. I think it's such a wonderful initiative. And I just love how you were using your passion to just bring awareness to a lot of things that people just don't know about.

29:04 And what was really inspiring was that I started thinking about women running in marathons, and I just realized that women only started running marathons only 54 years ago. I was writing these questions to you. And I was like, like that iconic black and white photo of Catherine Switzer running through the Boston marathon with the marathon director ripping off... Where the race director trying to rip off her number, that happened 54 years ago. That's, that's not a long time ago. It feels like a long time ago. But to go from that to you running the Boston marathon a few years back and raising awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women is an incredible, incredible time leap.

29:46 Right? Ok this is progress. Women are running, raising awareness for things. And I was going to ask you what impact do you think women will have on the sport and the next 50 years, [00:30:00] especially Indigenous womxn and Minorities? 

30:02  Yeah I think overall we're going to have such a tremendous impact in terms of we can compete with the guy. Like we're already proving that we are proving that we are capable. We are proving that we can handle running, being a mom, being an organizer, wearing so many hats, and still running and still being able to challenge ourselves while being challenged by others. On a course, we have evolved over time. Since 54 years ago, back then women had their place.

30:32 And we're expanding way beyond that. And we're so much capable. We're capable of so much more. And we're proving that every single day. And I think in terms of being an Indigenous woman and our people and our communities, especially our youth, it's going to have an impact of showing them that they belong in this space.

30:49 They can be a runner. They can create. Impact and influence. They can be a role model to so many. And hopefully with me with, you know, Verna (Volker) of Native Women Running with Dinée Dorame of The Grounded Podcast, with Lydia, Dr. Lydia Jennings. So many more others, Dustin Martin Wings of America. We are paving or helping to pave that path so that they can come up with no issues that they can just run or walk right into this and know that they belong because all of us have had our struggles of feeling like we belong.

31:23 We've had, we've been challenged by society or by other runners. But I don't want that for my baby to come. I don't want that for our next generations. And so I think for other communities of color too, I think that's going to be the same message is that we belong here and we have every right to have access to this.

31:42 So hopefully all the work that's being done today is just paving the way for more accessible pathways, being more accessible and a clear path of "This is for you. You can have this, you can be right here. You can be just as successful and you have community [00:32:00] speaking of community support." 

Yulia Laricheva 32:01 This goes back to sponsorships, too, right? It's who, who gets to have a chance at being a professional who gets a chance at doing what they love for a living and being compensated for it. Who is considered having a hobby versus who is a professional? Hopefully, that's going to change as well. And I was going to ask you, what's your advice for people who want to combine running with advocacy?

32:26 If people are just scared cause you... I was reading something that you were a little nervous to run the Boston marathon with a hand print on it. And then you just started moving your fingers and writing, Missing and Murdered hashtags on your legs and it just started happening and you did it.

32:40 What's your advice for somebody who's listening, who, who wants to combine their passion with their advocacy? 

Jordan Marie Daniel 32:45 Yeah. That nervousness that hesitation came from "I don't want to stand out already being someone that is an indigenous woman, a woman of color." I stand out already and I didn't want to add on to that. And that's just something that [00:33:00] I had to, once I knew what I was doing and it felt right it's that went out the window that worry, that hesitation was just like this isn't about even me. This isn't about anything. This is about 26 women and girls. And I think for people that want to, who are thinking about intersecting running with advocacy, or sport with advocacy, or whatever it is with advocacy; my first thing that I always suggest when people ask me this is "You need to find out what you're passionate about. You need to find out what it is that you won't tolerate or what it is that you want to stand for, what you want to protect or what you love, and then become your own subject matter expert on that. Do the research, do the education building, you know, read the reports, listen to the podcasts, do everything that you can to become well-versed in this so that you can start speaking to it so that we can start having conversations with your friends, with your family at the dinner table."

33:54 And the next thing you can do is start getting involved in that [00:34:00] work, your local organizing groups in your own community that are already doing that work. And if you are someone who is not coming from that community about this issue, but this is something that you really care about. So let's say you're a non-indigenous person, but you care about MMIW.

34:13 You can come to you, you do the Google search. You find out who the organizations are, who the advocates are, where they're organizing, show up to their events. Ask what can you do? Start volunteering. Another great example that we have with Rising Hearts is our dear friend, Emily Campbell. She is one of our athlete advocates with Running with Purpose, and she's a white woman. Absolutely incredible. But one of the things she offered was, Hey, I am a grant writer. I do this for a. I see that you're doing this by yourself. You don't have much funds coming in. Everything is that you raise, you're giving back into community. So let's make this sustainable and let's see what we can do.

34:50 She got us our first grant and that's how she's donated her time. And that's how she's shown up as an ally and as a friend. And I think when you find what you're passionate about, what you want to [00:35:00] do, go to that group, that community, whatever it is they're fighting for offer your skillset. If you are someone who is a great journalist or someone who is a video editor, Community a really good organizer, project manager, grant writer, whatever it is, offer your skillset because every, I can guarantee you that group organization, individual we're spread thin.

35:21 We don't have time. I'm a grant writer too. I love doing it. I get lost in it it's work that I really enjoy oddly, but I have no time for it anymore. That's just one great example of how you can actually be a meaningful ally and a co-conspirator within this work and how you can be supporting the movement to be, to keep it sustainable within the work.

35:42 And then just staying involved and not reinventing the wheel, not stepping on anyone's toes, but coming from a place of respect and from wanting to learn more. And that's how I'm coming into it too. I, even though I'm in these spaces and I help do these things, I'm still taught [00:36:00] also trying to be a student I'm also trying to unlearn and relearn and how I can do better as an advocate, as a community organizer as a sister, as a fiance, as a mom, everything. And I think we all have that opportunity to continue growing and expanding. 

Yulia Laricheva 36:15 And I was going to say, this is a good time to plug your own organization and talk about what you need that people can help with too. Like you mentioned, grant writing too. If you list a bunch of things, people listening to the podcast will share it and you might get a few more people hitting you up for it.

Jordan Marie Daniel 00:36:31 Yeah. Rising Hearts we've been around for four years now and we're finally fiscally sponsored. So we are able to have a budget and be able to host events and do the things that we're doing. So a lot of the stuff we have are Running On Native Lands initiative. We have our Indigenous Wellness Through Movement program where we're prioritizing our own self-care by participating in wellness classes and workshops, storytelling, presentation opportunities. We have one later today called Live Life Powerfully by Waylon (Pahona). He's an incredible storyteller and teacher. So we have that. We have tons of other examples, but it's a way to bring community together, especially everyone together to be able to learn, but also take care of themselves at the same time. We also have our No More Stolen Relatives initiative, which is now going to include our relatives from the boarding school areas.

37:21 I'm, we're making sure that these two, these injustices. sadly are intersected with the injustice of residential boarding schools and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. We also have our Running With Purpose Collective. We have 30 athlete advocates that we're supporting, and we're really hoping to transform the running and outdoor industry to push.

37:43 To do better to everything that we just spoke to before about me speaking about working with brands and everything. We need them to do the work. We need them to also support our athlete advocates. So we've had a handful of brands, donate product, really support the mission, tossing exclusivity aside, and just investing in the purpose of what we're trying to do and accomplish.

38:04 So we have people that are the athlete advocates, the community organizers that have been doing this work like myself. We also. Allies who just want to come in and see where they can help like Emily. And she loves running. She wants to help raise awareness through running, but she also wants to help support the work.

38:20 And we also have other new, like newbies to advocacy of being in a shared space with others who have been doing this. And they can learn from them and then do their own thing in their own community the same way. So we have 30 incredible, awesome human beings. You can visit my Instagram at @Nativein_LA.

38:38 I did a bunch of series called Running With Purpose, where you get to meet all of our 30 athlete advocates on there. And we get to learn more about them, the things that they're working on and already doing. We have a short film coming out featuring Dr. Lydia Jennings and an incredible indigenous Yaqui woman and runner and soil scientist.

38:56 And we've filmed her 50-mile prayer run back in March, [00:39:00] really honoring and uplifting 50 indigenous scientists and knowledge keepers that inspired her journey in this arduous journey of getting your Ph.D. And she also just finished a 135 mile run with two other scientists just within this last week. And so that's coming out the trailer releases on Indigenous People's Day, and then the full film releases on October 20th, it'll be available via Patagonia. They are the ones who sponsored our film and that we got to work with. And then we're hoping to continue the series of really uplifting runners, people in sport and movement who are intersecting their work with their passion. So advocacy and whatever their passion is. We're hoping to tell more stories like Lydia's and turn it into an episodic series.

Yulia Laricheva 39:47 I was also going to say, I think last time you spoke, you said you were going to be holding a race on May 5th to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women. So I think that's going to be a really great chance for people to join and be a part, try to run it, see what I can do to help and raise awareness for it.

40:05 And I also am going to host a Dream Nation Love/Rising Hearts some kind of a workout. I don't know when cause my schedule keeps on changing. I'm like, where am I? Who am I? But I do want to do it and bring more people in and do movement. And what else? I was going to also ask you the final question, which is "What is your dream as an adult?"

Jordan Marie Daniel 40:25 My dream as an adult, I feel like I'm already living my dream. I think it just was sweetened. Creating sacred life and about being a mom and welcoming baby earth side in the coming months. But I'm really doing everything that I've ever dreamed of and more. Everything after DC has been the and more. I felt like I went to DC, I went and did my dream. I felt like I kind of reached a ceiling and I was like "I'm content with being here." But then an opportunity presented itself that had me [00:41:00] excited and allowed me to say "Yes, you should. It's not going to hurt you. You can always come back and your family's here." And luckily I had a really great support system that really supported me in that move, but I would say, I think I'm living that dream.

41:13 I'm running, I'm healthy. I'm able to keep running. I'm still organizing, being in community and doing the work that I love doing and really have jobs that I really love doing. And then have a home in a partner that I love incredibly much, and we're just doing the things that we love doing, and that bring joy to our lives with us in our family. Yeah, I think I'm doing that. 

Yulia Laricheva 41:36 I love that. Well, you know, it's, it's amazing what can change in a few months. Cause I think we just spoke about like three, four months ago and you were like, yeah, I hope to have a family one day and you're like, yeah. And I hope that I get a little bit more sponsorship and look it's four months later and how much has changed? Right? You've got a grant writer who's helping you. You have a baby on the way. It's just about dreaming and opening up your heart and opening up your mind and like manifesting these. And like thoughts are things and I'm so excited for you. And I'm so excited to meet your little one. When they come out that play dates, the first six months are like a plane getting off the air, like getting off the ground.

42:16 First six months feel like this. When you get to seven and eight, it's more like she's crying in the background. She hasn't fallen asleep, so I gotta run but feel free to reach out for anything. I'm here, then you're going to be an awesome mom. And I can't wait to see you running with your babies. Are you modifying your running routine?

Jordan Marie Daniel 42:34 Oh yeah, I have to. I thought I'd be that pregnant mom that could keep running into all the things I was doing. And I do have friends that were able to do that, but I also have tons of friends that couldn't like, some of them literally could not run their whole entire pregnancy. Luckily that's not me, but.

42:52 I feel like, with every round that I'm doing, I feel like my legs and hips are about to just break off and just hobbling [00:43:00] around already. And I wore my first pregnancy support belt yesterday. That definitely helped. I hope that's like kind of the game-changer for me, but up until that point, it's been pretty.

43:12 Discomforting and not fun. And I'm just like, I just want to keep running. I like mentally, physically, my body wants to go, but it's all in the baby area region. It's just like, we're not a fan of this. 

Yulia Laricheva 43:25 You know what I did? I got. But when I was pregnant and then no, I didn't, I got them after I gave birth because my weight shifted. So I went to a running shop and I got fitted for stability shoes because I couldn't run with my regular sneakers after the baby was born because my knees were like noodles. You're going to experience all of this. You're going to be like, what is happening right now? And your mind is going to wanna keep pushing.

43:51 Right? Because the hardest part is your mind wants to go, but then like your body can't I'm running faster than I did before I was pregnant. Like I'm doing [00:44:00] five, five miles now and I used to always putter out at four, but now I don't. My body is stronger now it's mom power and I was blown away. So I'm really excited to hear about your experience as a mom because it's just, this is just more experiences and make us stronger and give you a broader community because you're going to have all these new biggie mom, friends, and it's going to be, it's going to be exciting.

Jordan Marie Daniel 44:22 So I'm really excited. I'm excited to thank you for being on the podcast and that let's keep in touch. Thank you for doing the work that you're doing. Cause you're super inspiring. Thank you. It's always a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for tuning into the show.

44:43 I hope you enjoyed it. Please share on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, a Dream Nation Love it's not Dream Nation Podcast. It's Dream Nation Love because I think my single mission in life is to teach people how to love a little bit more and together we can save the world. So it's Dream Nation [00:45:00] Love. Share it with your friends, have a great day, and go out and make the world a better place.