2023 TCC Annual Convention

The Future is Indigenous

Tanana Chiefs Conference’s 2023 Annual Convention and Full Board of Director’s theme is The Future is Indigenous. We hope that this year’s theme empowers our people and our tribes to continue to thrive and occupy spaces where indigenous people have not had the opportunity to before. When we look toward the future – we see strong indigenous voices rising up and empowering one another. 

Quannah Chasinghorse
2023 TCC Keynote Speaker

Quannah ChasingHorse (she/her) is a Han Gwich’in and Sicangu/Oglala Lakota land protector, climate justice activist, and fashion model from Eagle Village, Alaska and the tribes of South Dakota.   Born on the Navajo Nation, she is the daughter of Jody Potts-Joseph and the granddaughter of Mike and Adeline Potts.

As a young girl, Quannah lived on Navajo homelands as her mother finished college, and then Mongolia, before returning to her maternal homelands in Alaska.  She was raised hunting, fishing, and dog mushing, living a subsistence lifestyle with her mother and two brothers.  Quannah’s deep connection to her homelands and her people’s way of life is her grounding and guiding force as a land protector and climate justice activist. 

Signing with IMG Models has exponentially increased her platform to uplift Indigenous peoples’ representation, beauty, voices, stories, and ways of life on a global stage through fashion and media. Quannah has worked with the top global fashion houses and has graced the covers of Vogue Mexico, V Magazine, Elle, Porter Magazine, National Geographic and Allure’s annual Best of Beauty issue.  She has appeared in international editions of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, and twice has attended the Met Gala.

In June 2022, Quannah debuted “Walking Two Worlds” a short documentary at TriBeCa Film Festival.  The short tells Quannah and her mother Jody’s stories, as they take a stand to defend their sacred homelands and way of life while breaking barriers in Indigenous representation.  “Walking Two Worlds” won best documentary short at the Santa Monica Film Festival.

Quannah is the recipient of several awards including Teen Vogue’s Top 21 under 21, Models Dot’s Breakout Star of the Year (Industry Vote and Readers Choice) 2021, and Social Mover of the Year (Industry Vote) 2022, and Runner Up (Industry Vote) 2021.  Quannah is on the 2022 Forbes 30 under 30 list, was inducted into the Business of Fashion Global Class of 2022 in Paris, and was nominated Model of the Year by British Fashion Awards 2022. 

Through all of Quannah’s accomplishments and journeys her most important work is upholding and uplifting her Indigenous values, remaining true to herself, her people, and her homelands.  Quannah stays grounded by making time to connect with her family, her people, her homelands, and with her indigenous colleagues and allies engaged in fashion and activism.

Quannah is leading the way for indigenous people to occupy spaces that they hadn’t before and she truly represents this year’s TCC Convention Theme – The Future is Indigenous.