Meda DeWitt's Slideshow

Meda DeWitt is Tlingit with familial ties to Wrangell, Alaska. Meda’s Tlingit names are Tśa Tsée Náakw and Khaat kła.at, her adopted Iñupiaq name is Tigigalook, and her adopted Cree name is Boss Eagle Spirit Woman “Boss.” Her clan is Naanyaa.aayí and she is a child of the Kaach.aadi. Her family comes from Shtuxéen kwaan (now referred to as Wrangell, AK.) Meda’s lineage also comes from Oregon, Washington, and the British Columbia/Yukon Territories. Currently she lives on Dena’ina lands in Anchorage, Alaska with her fiancé James “Chris” Paoli and their eight children.

Meda is a Lingít traditional healer who harvests local plants for traditional medicines and foods, a certified massage therapist, an ethno-herbalist, an educator, and an events coordinator. She has associates degrees in science and human services; a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies: women’s rites of passage; a master’s degree of arts in Alaska Native traditional healing from Alaska Pacific University; and is currently in an Indigenous studies doctoral program at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, New Zealand. For more about Meda Dewitt, see her website, medaforalaska.com.