Speakers
The Indigenous Cultures Speakers Bureau provides lectures and presentations by professional presenters, on a sliding-scale-fee basis. Topics include little known historical and cultural information about the Coahuiltecan people and general education about Native Americans in Texas. We offer lectures for college and community audiences, and presentations are available for schools.
Our presentations inspire a new awareness and deep appreciation for the past and present-day contributions of Native Americans. Please contact us to inquire about the speakers’ fees and to schedule one or more of the following lectures or presentations.
If you would like to engage one of our speakers, please email LaRay Guerrero at LaRay@indigenouscultures.org
Mario Garza, Ph.D.
Dr. Mario Garza is an elder of the Miakan/Garzas Band of the Coahuiltecan, a state-legislature-recognized tribe of Texas. He has a multi-disciplinary Ph.D. from Michigan State University and he currently researches and presents educational lectures about Native Americans. Dr. Garza has decades of involvement in the Native American community, including repatriation of remains, successful development of indigenous nonprofits, re-establishment of ceremonial sites, Native arts and events, and political issues. His lectures cover a range of topics including local efforts in repatriation, indigeneity of Hispanics, and contributions of Native Americans.
Carlos Aceves, M.ED.
Carlos Aceves is a teacher, published author, and an elder among many indigenous communities. He has been teaching in the public schools for over twenty years, focusing on elementary school levels. He is a founder of the Xinachtli Project, a multi-disciplinary, indigenous based pedagogy that successfully teaches students how to acquire knowledge rather than learn by memorization. He is available to speak on this remarkable pedagogy as well as other topics about indigeneity.
EMILY AGUILAR, M.F.A.
Emi Aguilar is a Coahuiltecan Arts Educator, community organizer, and multidisciplinary artist, based among the Coahuiltecan homelands where her people have resided for over 14,000 years (recently known as Central Texas to Northern Mexico). She is of Indigenous and settler descent. Emi grew up on the Tohono O’Odham Nation reservation, and later in Central New York. She earned her MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from The University of Texas at Austin. With a decade of teaching experience, she specializes in Indigenous arts integration, digital storytelling as a community-affirming practice, and Indigenizing storytelling. She offers consulting on undoing settler-colonial culture and moving toward being in right relation with Indigenous communities, lands and waters. She is the Assistant Director of Pop Culture + Media at IllumiNative.
Marika Alvarado
I am Marika, a Lipan Mescalero Apache. I am a direct descendant of generations of Medicine Women: traditional native healers of spirit and body, midwives, and plant medicine practitioners. My mother, grandmother, and aunt handed the medicine down to me. I am here to help in the healing of others and to pass on these teachings I have been given. I believe that I should teach all people who have the dedication and spiritual will to use these teachings as Mother Earth and the generations before me intended.
Ángela Vela, LMSW
Ángela graduated with a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin. She has experience in engaging with older adults, queer and trans youth, and BIPOC youth in school and medical settings as a social worker.
Angela is especially passionate about working with youth to provide culturally relevant care and mental health services. In her engagement with youth at the Indigenous Cultures Institute, Ángela provides lessons on food justice, the cultural and historical relevance of ancestral foods, and how access to traditional food ways and land can improve our wellbeing and mental health. In her free time, Ángela enjoys danza Mexica with loved ones from Mitotiliztli YaoYollohtli and Ollinyolotl, spending time with the Sacred Springs, and learning about her mixed Indigenous roots as a descendant of the Dolores de las Minas community.