Tsilhqot’in writer, storyteller, editor, and social entrepreneur
Lisa Charleyboy is a First Nations (Tsilhqot’in) writer, storyteller, editor, and social entrepreneur. She is the editor-in-chief of "Urban Native Magazine", which focuses on popular culture from an Indigenous perspective. She makes frequent appearances on radio and television, promoting her magazine and giving her opinion on current Aboriginal issues in Canada. Charleyboy has said in interviews that she considers herself a feminist and that she wants to provide positive representations of Aboriginal people in her magazine.
Charleyboy has written about cultural appropriation, popular culture, and politics, and has been named one of Toronto’s Top Bloggers and one of Canada’s Top Ten Fashion Bloggers. In 2013, she was named by "Huffington Post" as one of three Aboriginal millennials to watch, and recommended for a Toronto DiverseCity Fellowship for 2013-2014.
Early life and education.
Charleyboy moved from Abbotsford, British Columbia to Toronto to attend Ryerson University for Fashion Communication. She cites her love of magazines and desire to become a fashion editor as factors that prompted her to transfer to York University for Professional Writing.
Career.
In 2007 Charleyboy created a blog, Urban Native Girl, (UNG) which focuses on Indigenous contemporary life and popular culture.
In 2013 she parlayed her blog into "Urban Native Magazine", a lifestyle publication geared toward inspiring Indigenous youth with positive success stories. The magazine is aimed towards Aboriginal Canadians aged from 15-35.
In 2014 Charleyboy released a book with author Mary Beth Leatherdale called "Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices".
Charleyboy has also served as a board member for Association for the Native Development of Visual and Performing Arts (ANDVPA), the Young Indigenous Professionals, and is now the Director of Communications for the Aboriginal Professionals of Canada (APAC). She has also been invited to give talks at Harvard University and to Aboriginal Women Entrepreneurs, and has become a regular writer/contributor and guest in the media.
In 2015, she hosted the summer documentary and interview series "New Fire" for CBC Radio One.
Reception.
#NotYourPrincess (2017).
"#Notyourprincess: Voices of Native American Women" received the American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Young Adult Book (2018) and was a YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist (2018).
Dreaming in Indian (2014).
"Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices" was a 2016 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Middle Grade Book Honor Book.
References.
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