Strategy Group
About - In Our Ways
In Our Ways Strategy Group is a shared platform born from friendship, trust, and a mutual commitment to justice. We are Indigenous strategists with experience spanning Tribal governance, philanthropy, global policy, advocacy, and systems change. We have walked alongside leaders, movements, institutions, and communities across sectors and aim to bring our expertise and perspectives to fields where we are often systematically excluded.
This space was created as a way to hold and share our voices and support work that aligns with our shared values, commitment to trust-based philanthropy, and resource movement. In Our Ways is committed to centering Indigenous Peoples in all decision-making processes and at every table. We partner with those who envision a world in which Indigenous Peoples are not just consulted, but are central, active leaders in all spaces where decisions are made.
At the heart of our approach is a belief that process matters as much as outcomes. We bring care to how decisions are made, how rights are safeguarded and protected, and how power is wielded and shared. We support our partners in moving from extractive practices to structures rooted in trust, reciprocity, consent, accountability.
Mission
Our shared mission is to accompany each other and selected partners in building equity-centered, relational, and sovereign strategies that advance Indigenous rights, transform institutions, and support just futures. We do this through a values-based approach that centers Indigenous leadership, community-defined knowledge, and collaborative action.
Meet the Team
In Our Ways Strategy Group is led by Indigenous People with deep experience across philanthropy, governance, international law, and movement strategy. Together, we offer a values-rooted, systems-savvy, and relational approach that centers the knowledge, leadership, and priorities of Indigenous Peoples and communities most impacted by structural inequity.
Rochelle Morgan-Verdin
(Citizen of the United Houma Nation)
Rochelle Morgan-Verdin is a dedicated leader in the advancement of the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples, both within her own community and across the globe. She holds a master’s degree in International Law and Human Rights from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace, and a bachelor’s in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Emory University.
Rochelle brings professional experience, academic depth, and lived experience to her work, with a strong focus on the intersections of climate change, displacement, and the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. She has actively participated in international negotiations, working to ensure that the voices, priorities, and knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples are respected. Through advocacy and policy development, she works to create meaningful and lasting change for Indigenous Peoples worldwide.
Dawn Knickerbocker
(Anishinaabe, White Earth Nation)
Dawn Knickerbocker is a strategist, writer, and nonprofit leader committed to advancing equity, Tribal sovereignty, and self-determination through philanthropy, narrative change, and systems design. She recently served as Vice President of the NCAI Foundation, where she lead national initiatives to align funding, communications, and operations with the priorities of Indigenous Peoples.
Dawn holds a master’s degree in Human Rights Practice from the University of Arizona and a certificate in Tribal Leadership from Harvard Business School. With more than two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, grantmaking, and advancing Tribal priorities within philanthropic and national systems, she brings both cultural grounding and strategic clarity to her work. Her efforts are rooted in Anishinaabe teachings and lifelong service to community.