565: Colleen Echohawk: The First Indigenous Woman Running for Mayor in a Major City

Over the past two decades, Colleen Echohawk has served the most marginalized people living in the Greater Seattle community. As the head of Chief Seattle Club, a non-profit dedicated to the rapid re-housing of urban Natives, Colleen led the effort to create nearly $100 million in new affordable housing in Seattle. Under Colleen’s leadership, Chief Seattle Club has received recognition from the Puget Sound Sage Visionary for Justice Award (2018), the Neighborhood

Builder Award (2017), and the Municipal League of King County’s Organization of the Year (2016).

Colleen is an enrolled member of the Kithehaki Band of the Pawnee Nation and a member of the Upper Athabascan people of Mentasta Lake. Colleen and her family have been proud to call Seattle home for over two decades. In her spare time, she loves to read, sing karaoke, take her dog Rizzo for a walk, listen to National Public Radio, and cook delicious food for her friends and family.

She has been recognized by numerous organizations, including the 21 Leaders to watch in 2021 by Seattle Magazine, the King County Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Distinguished Service (2020), Seattle’s most influential people by Seattle Magazine (November 2019), and many more. 

I got to hear Colleen speak a couple months ago and I immediately knew I wanted to ask her to be a guest on the show. I was so delighted and honored when she said yes. We could have spoken for hours. She is a powerhouse of a woman and leader and her mayoral platform is extraordinary. I know you will be so inspired by Colleen’s stories and leadership.

Listen in to hear Colleen share:

• The cost of leadership when you’re a mom
• Her role as the first Indigenous women running for mayor in a major city
• The identities she carries as a mayoral candidate, Indigenous woman, eldest sister of 7 siblings, and Shameless Mom
• How she is using her mayoral platform to protect Seattle’s most vulnerable citizens
• How being an Indigenous women informs her leadership and deep desire to be a public servant
• The evolution of Native identity in leadership
• The intersection of motherhood and leadership and how her kids help her keep boundaries
• Her background serving Native people experiencing homelessness and how it’s the foundation for her mayoral campaign
• How she wants to see change and evolution in policing in Seattle
• Her focus on providing the city of Seattle an equitable recovery from COVID
• Her advice to other women who might be considering running for office

Links mentioned:

• Join my free workshop, 5 Ways to Shine Like a Mother
• Echohawk For Seattle
• Colleen on Instagram
• Colleen on Facebook
• Colleen on Twitter

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