Senior Executive Team

The Senior Executive Team is responsible for providing management, operational, and strategic leadership for the Indigenous Peoples' Initiative.

Sophie Schwartz, born and raised in South Dakota, is Mnicoujou Lakota and a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Sophie currently resides in Washington D.C., where she works as an Analyst for the Emerson Collective's Political and Campaigns team and is an Emerson Collective Community Solutions Scholar. A graduate of Fort Lewis College (FLC) with BAs in Philosophy and Political Science, Sophie previously worked as the Program Developer for FLC’s Engagement Collaborative where her areas of focus included building out inclusive civic engagement programming, creating student-centered infrastructure within the Collaborative, and conducting research on deliberative democracy to inform best practices. She has also worked with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, collaborating with Cultural Interpreters to lead virtual school field trips for students and curating programming that provides accurate messaging and storytelling around Indigenous history and experiences. In her spare time, Sophie enjoys playing golf and spending time at her local pool hall. 

After living and studying abroad for most of their life. As a student,  at Science Po Paris, Juan focused on studying political sciences and sociology, developing extensive knowledge specializing in the understanding of sociopolitical causes and issues, particularly as they pertain to the general Colombian and broader Latin American context. Juan is also extensively experienced in fields such as consecutive English-Spanish interpretation, customer service, social activism, and artistic fields such as visual and performing arts. Juan currently oversees the administrative, operational, and artistic direction of the Bonda Foundation; a project that aims to empower the production of artisanal goods designed and created in collaboration with Emberá-Chamí artisans while designing a platform for commercializing their work so as to potentialize their skills into being a stable source of income.