FOR URBAN NATIVES BY URBAN NATIVES

Marianne Zhetot Kwe Almero is a Pilipina and Bodéwadmi kwe who earned her Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, where she researched art-therapy as treatment for PTSD in collectivist societies. In 2024 she graduated from Columbia School of Social Work where she received her MSW. She is now a licensed LMSW in New Jersey and New York state. Since 2019, Marianne has worked in the mental health field as a strong means of support for participants ranging from children to elders struggling with addiction, self-harm, trauma, suicide attempts and ideation, eating disorders, mood dysregulation, psychosis, and other challenges surrounding mental health.Since 2022, Marianne has used these experiences in the realm of mental health to support the Urban Native community in New York City, providing behavioral health therapy and advocacy services. With the understanding of the relationship between mental health and oppressive systems that marginalize Indigenous communities, Marianne also engages in social justice advocacy to fight for collective liberation and the decolonization of oppressive institutions.Marianne is currently the Community Wellness Specialist at Urban Indigenous Collective, where she is developing and stewarding programming on direct-care mental health services, traditional wellness services, MMIP, and community wellness initiatives. On her free days, you can find Marianne participating in local social justice initiatives, supporting local drag artists, exploring new music, foraging, and spending time with her loved ones, especially her cat Chadwick.

 Austin is a member of the Chicoran Shakori tribe of South Carolina. Austin is descended from Indigenous and white sharecroppers on his mother’s side, and New York City Italian-American settlers on his father’s side. As part of the Great Migration of the 60s, Austin’s ancestors walked away from sharecropping alongside other peoples of color by migrating to the northeast “for the good union jobs”. Growing up as a Two-Spirit urban native in the Simsbury area of Hartford, Austin has found himself at powerful intersections between the forces of Technology and Globalization. During and after pursuing his degree in Technology and Globalization at NYU Gallatin, Austin continued to enhance his Product Design skills as the Chicoran Shakori Tribal Web Developer and the Lead Product Designer at Up2Code, ZED Aerospace, and Blue World Inc. While pursuing his degree at Gallatin, Austin worked for Apple at one of their HQ locations, and observed the structural changes presently roiling the global economy firsthand. Finding himself at another powerful global crossroads, Austin is currently focused on the intersections between Indigenous communities, Sustainability, and Product Design.

Primitiva Buesaquillo is a queer Quillasinga (Pasto) and Muiska (Sopó) woman, born on the traditional territories of the Arhuaco (Ika), Wiwa, Kogi, and Kankuamo peoples on the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies with double minors in Psychology and Theater from Rutgers University–New Brunswick. While at Rutgers, she served as Treasurer for LLEGO: The LGBTQQIA People of Color Union and President of the RU Indigenous Turtle Island Club.

Primitiva is a multimedia artist and lifelong dancer and singer of Cumbia and Colombian folclórica. Her work is rooted in cultural memory, movement, and community connection.

She currently serves as the Events and Outreach Coordinator at Urban Indigenous Collective, supporting relationship-building across our community and ensuring our presence is felt at gatherings, powwows, and cultural events. She approaches this work with care, intention, and accountability to the people we serve.