Featured Speaker: Shannon Francis

Executive Director, Spirit of the Sun

Shannon Francis is Dineh (Navajo) from Shiprock, New Mexico, and Hopi from Kykotsmovi,

Arizona. She is Towering House clan born for Red Running through the Water clan. Her Hopi

clans are Massau’, Bear Sand, and Snake Clan. Shannon comes from twelve generations of

earth caretakers, ethnobotanists and seed keepers.  Shannon is an active educator and has

presented and taught widely on permaculture design. Her passion is instilling reciprocal

relationships by connecting people to the natural world through seeds, soil and the elements.

Shannon has been a member of the Denver Native community for thirty years and serves on the

Winds American Indian Council as Chair and is the Director for the Indigenous Agricultural project at Four Winds. In 2014, Shannon received the Justin B. Willie humanitarian award on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. More recently, she received the 2015 Cesar E. Chavez female leadership award for her work with Indigenous gardening, food justice and community building projects.