Naomi Michalsen, Kaasei (Tlingit), is Wooshkeetaan, Eagle/Wolf of the Shark House of Berners Bay, Alaska. Her work focuses on wellness, education and violence prevention through connecting people to native plants and foods, cultural traditions, and community. In 2017, Naomi founded Kaasei Training & Consulting, dba Kaasei Indigenous Foodways, offering workshops, wellness retreats, teacher trainings, presentations and food and plant medicine symposiums.
Naomi founded the Kayaaní Sisters Council, a group of Alaska Native women committed to increasing wellness and tribal food sovereignty throughout the state. They created the “Respectful Harvesting Guidelines,” which is now being used throughout Alaska. Naomi also led the development of the Alaska edition of the Plant Teachings for Growing Social-Emotional Skills Toolkit, which includes a book, plant cards, posters, movement videos, activities, and coloring pages. In addition, she has created resources currently being utilized in the state such as the Tlʼátk Káa Yoo Xʼatángi: Lingit Kayaaní Tlingit Plant Cards and Traditional Protective Factors worksheet.
Naomi has over 30 years of practical experience as a professional in the fields of domestic violence and substance abuse prevention, education and tribal economic development work. She formerly served as Executive Director at Women In Safe Homes, a shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, as Marketing and Economic Development director for the Ketchikan Indian Community, and as an Adjunct Professor and Cultural Specialist at University of Alaska, Southeast Ketchikan. She is certified in Ethnobotany from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is an Indigenous foods chef. Naomi and her husband live in Ketchikan and have five adult children and nine grandchildren. For more information about her work, visit her website at kaasei.com.