I’m Alexa Sutton (African American/Yesàh – Ohio Saponi), a wildlife biologist and cultural geographer.

My work is rooted in the traditions of my Yesàh (Saponi, Occaneechi, Monacan, Tutelo) ancestors whose histories, relationships, and knowledge systems have shaped the lands from the Piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina to the Ohio River Valley. I’m an enrolled member of the Saponi Nation of Ohio, and much of my work is devoted to preserving and sharing our stories, cultural memory, and connection to place.

I currently serve on the board of NDPonics, a Native-led non-profit focused on land rematriation, and I’m the Executive Director of the Landberry Foundation. Through Landberry, I also founded Indigenous East—an ambitious vision to build a connected network of Indigenous -owned, -managed, and -stewarded lands across the eastern United States (learn more at indigenouseast.org and landberry.org).

I’m on hiatus from an M.A. in American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where my research focuses on the migration and settlement histories of Yesàh families (like my own) who relocated from Virginia and North Carolina to the Ohio River Valley between 1805 and 1860.

Earlier in my career, I earned a Ph.D. in Environment from Duke University, an M.S. in Wildlife & Fisheries Science from Texas A&M, and a B.S. in Biology from Howard University. I’ve held leadership roles across government and nonprofit sectors, including Chief of Staff at USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Vice President at Ocean Conservancy, and Southeast Regional Director at The Wilderness Society.

Some of my reflections on Aframerindian and Afro-Indigenous identity and community can be found in To Our Future Afro-Indigenous Kin (2021) and Ribbons of Color Along the Eno River (Eno Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1). You can also explore my academic work on Google Scholar.