Kaylena Bray

Biography

Kaylena Bray is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians. She holds a B.A from Brown University, and MSc from the University of Oxford in Environmental Change and Management. She has spent her career working to strengthen the role of Indigenous and Native knowledge systems to address social, environmental, and economic systemic challenges globally. Kaylena’s work extends globally and throughout the Americas, and has served to educate, raise public awareness, and strengthen vital links between food and seed systems, local economies, and biocultural health. She has worked at Ashoka in the field of social entrepreneurship, and at The Cultural Conservancy as the Native Foodways Program Director. She has served as a delegate and expert panelist at the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, and sat on the founding committee of various Indigenous led networks supporting agricultural diversity. Currently, she is on the board of Alianza Milpa, an Indigenous fund supporting seed diversity in Native communities across Turtle Island, and the cofounder of a social enterprise, Ancestral Maguey Organization, supporting small scale agave and maize farmers to strengthen local economies. She hopes to combine her work on seed and food systems, and Indigenous environmental management as a pathway for generating profound impact on the cultural, physical, and mental health in Native communities. Combining her passion for entrepreneurship and creating economic change in communities, she envisions a pathway toward a leadership position that addresses critical intersections of health, socio-economic wellness, and environment.