Melissa Nelson

President/CEO, The Cultural Conservancy

­Melissa’s work is dedicated to indigenous rights and revitalization, biocultural heritage protection and environmental justice, intercultural understanding, and the renewal and celebration of community health and cultural arts.

For nearly two decades Melissa has been involved in the Native American food movement in North America and in the indigenous food sovereignty movement internationally. She writes, speaks, conducts research, and leads programs on native foodways, indigenous food sovereignty, and indigenous health. She publishes essays in academic and popular journals and books and documents Native food issues through audio and video recordings. Through the Cultural Conservancy, Melissa is currently co-managing the Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden, a 5-acre organic farm at the College of Marin, in Novato, CA and is developing an urban Native food justice initiative.  She has spoken on indigenous food sovereignty at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., the Slow Food Terra Madre Festival in Italy, the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples Gathering in New Zealand, and at Native Food Festivals and classes at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM, Stanford University, and around the country.