Meet Our Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer

Paula Feathers is Cherokee and Pawnee. Her family roots are in Oklahoma but she was raised in Zuni, NM. Paula is the founder and CEO of Kamama Consulting, a business that provides services in training, facilitation, strategic planning, curriculum development, logistical coordination, project management, team building, and grant writing. Paula works with Tribes, state agencies, and community organizations. Kamama Consulting specializes in substance abuse prevention, professional skill development, and systems/organizational development. Over the past 10 years, as part of the New Mexico Tribal Prevention Project, Ms. Feathers and colleagues have brought in close to 10 million dollars in grants for substance abuse prevention in NM Tribal communities. Further, Ms. Feathers and her colleagues have developed a strength and outcome based approach that can be used in Tribal communities to increase community wellness and address a variety of problems. Paula’s undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico focused on psychology and Native American studies and her master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma is in Administrative Leadership.

Pueblo of Isleta

Caroline Dailey is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Isleta. Since 1997 to the current time, she has served as the Program Director for the Pueblo of Isleta Social Services and ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) Program and the Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Program. The latter was made possible through an OVW grant with the Department of Justice which began in 2013 to the current time.

Ms. Dailey is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with the State of New Mexico. She has also provided classroom instruction and field placement instruction and supervision for students enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate Schools of Social work at New Mexico State University and New Mexico Highlands University.

Her passion lies in advocacy work related to child and family services, domestic violence victims and survivors in Indian communities and social justice issues related to minority populations and underprivileged youth from marginalized communities. She embraces the professional relationships that she has developed and sustained with other professionals in the field and values the young people rising to the forefront of confronting the inequities that exist in Native Communities. She considers herself to be a constant learner as she recognizes that those we work to serve are the experts in their lives.

Chief Judge

Pueblo of Pojoaque Tribal Court

Pueblo of Pojoaque Chief Judge Kim McGinnis earned a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from the University of Michigan in 1999 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology, Molecular Neurogenetics Unit. Judge McGinnis graduated from Boston University School of Law in 2004. She clerked at the Michigan Court of Appeals before joining Detroit Legal Aid and Defenders as a felony-level public defender. In 2008, she became an assistant defender with the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, where she was the principal appellate attorney investigating convictions tainted by Detroit Crime Lab malfeasance. In 2011, Judge McGinnis moved to Taos, New Mexico and practiced family law, primarily representing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in state and tribal courts. The Pueblo of Pojoaque Tribal Council appointed her associate judge in 2013 and chief judge in 2015. Judge McGinnis presides over Pojoaque’s Path to Wellness Court, healing to wellness court, and Children’s Courts. She is also program director for Pojoaque’s Opioid Prevention and Intervention Project, Substance Use Disorder Pre-Prosecution Diversion Project. Domestic Violence Education and Outreach Project, and Sober Living/Re-Entry Pilot Project. Judge McGinnis is a member of the New Mexico Tribal-State Judicial Consortium.

Education Program Manager

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

Becki Jones is Diné, she is Big Water and born for the Salt People. She is the Program Manager of the Community Health Worker program for the Responsible Sex Education Institute at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. She has been a sex educator with them since August 2015. She sits as co-chair for the Southwest Indigenous Initiative, an HIV prevention group that does risk reduction in Indigenous Communities. She is also a board member with Young Women United (YWU), a reproductive justice organization that leads policy change, research, place-based community organizing, and culture shift by and for women and people of color in New Mexico. She is an indigenous feminist that approaches intersectional issues with reproductive justice frameworks. When she is not teaching sexual health she is attending school, playing in her bands, and hanging out with her four legged relatives.

Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative (DVPI) Coordinator

CarlyJo Chavarria is a tribal member of Santa Clara Pueblo. She is also from Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe from Nevada. CarlyJo is the current Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative (DVPI) Coordinator for Santa Clara Pueblo. She has been in this position since the beginning of the year 2019. Ms. Chavarria started out as a high school intern in the Department of Youth and Learning in high school. She was hired into the department as a recreation assistant and earned her way into the DVPI Position.

Throughout her time at Santa Clara she has earned certificates in such as Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA), Domestic Violence Advocate, and more. She is in the last semester of completing her degree in Paralegal studies and was also awarded the NIHB Health Policy Fellowship for the 2020 cohort.  She currently volunteers with the Santa Clara Pueblo Fire Department. She uses her knowledge from her position and community work to provide a healthier outlook for her community. CarlyJo finds herself on the land, beading, or supporting her younger siblings at games or events on her free time.

Social Service Program Manager

Jicarilla Behavioral Health

Ms. Eaton graduated from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado in 2006. She is currently the Social Services Program Manager for Jicarilla Behavioral Health located in Dulce, NM. She co-coordinates the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) for Dulce. In 2017, she received the Excellence in Advocacy Award from the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women (CSVANW). She currently provides domestic violence and anger management classes for the RRI program in Towaoc, CO.

Cheryl also heads the Native American Committee for the Inter-Personal Violence Death Review Team for New Mexico. The Native American Committee collaborates with tribes and Native American organizations statewide in an effort to facilitate reviews of death related to intimate partner violence and sexual assault occurring on tribal lands and those involving a Native American victim or offender regardless of the incident location.

Director

Indigenous Montessori Institute

Tracey Cordero is a proud tribal member of Cochiti Pueblo.  Her priorities are focused on being a loving mother, aunt, sister, daughter and a fierce community advocate.  After serving on the Board of Directors for the Keres Children’s Learning Center (KCLC) for three years, she transitioned into the position of Director of the Indigenous Montessori Institute.  Her continued work with KCLC is rooted in the hope of fostering Tribal Sovereignty through Indigenous Education.  Her professional experience includes administering tribal court services, tribal prevention programs, strategic planning & consultation, and serving on various boards and committees.  Tracey holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of New Mexico and received her Master of Business Administration degree from Syracuse University.

Executive Director

Southwest Women’s Law Center

Terrelene is a citizen of the Navajo Nation. She is born to the Tangle Clan and born for the Towering House Clan. Her maternal grandfather is of the Rock Gap Clan, and her paternal grandfather is Salt Water Clan.  She is originally from Pinon, AZ on the Navajo Nation. Terrelene resides in Rio Rancho, NM.

Terrelene has policy, legal and programmatic experience. She is a licensed attorney and considers herself to be policy guru, specializing in Native American law. Terrelene holds a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law, and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin.

Terrelene is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center. She previously served as the Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services. Terrelene also practiced law as an attorney with Johnson Barnhouse & Keegan, LLP, and the New Mexico Legal Aid, Inc.