Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

On today’s show, we talk with Wayne L. Ducheneaux, II (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) who is the Executive Director of the Native Governance Center, an organization dedicated to strengthening Tribal sovereignty and Indigenous leadership, through its Native Nation Rebuilders program.

Wayne shares his path of leadership and commitment to serving the needs of Native nations by helping leaders acquire the skills, training, and resources to support their citizens. Wayne is also dedicated to his family, is an enthusiastic video gamer, and an avid supporter of self-care and work-life balance, even though he hasn’t always practiced it himself. 

Many thanks to Wayne Ducheneaux for his dedicated leadership in guiding the Native Governance Center’s work supporting and training leaders, and for being a great example of how we thrive by being a good relative and building relationships. We appreciate your inspiring vision for the transformed future for Native nations. 

Learn more about how the Native Governance Center supports Indigenous Leadership here: https://nativegov.org/

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/