Lorene Sisquoc, Chia Cafe Collective

Lorene Sisquoc, Curator of the Sherman Indian Museum, has taught basket-making and Native Plant Uses and Material Culture/Traditions at the Sherman Indian High School and throughout Southern California for many years. Sisquoc is a descendant of the Mountain Cahuilla and a member of the Fort Sill Apache tribe. She is co-founder of Mother Earth Clan, sits on the board of directors of the Malki Museum, and is a co-founder of Southern California Indian Basket Weavers Organization. She gives cultural presentations throughout the region. In 1997, the city of Riverside honored her with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visionary Award for community cultural awareness. Sisquoc also received the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center Heritage Keepers Award. In 2015, she was appointed as the first elder/scholar-in-residence at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona to encourage Native American students to go forward with their university education at the same time as they embrace their culture, traditions, and language.