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About us

Inclusive International Indigenous Reporting & Storytelling

A close-up view of the Crushing Colonialism logo projected across a curved wall. People stand and socialize beneath it, some holding plates and cups. Lighting fixtures and ceiling rigging are visible above.
who we are

Crushing Colonialism is an Indigenous-led 501(c3) nonprofit in the so-called United States that uplifts Indigenous people through arts, media, and traditional storytelling while supporting those doing the work. We were founded in 2016 by Jen Deerinwater and are operated by Indigenous people working in a variety of storytelling fields across the world. We work to increase the pay and employment of Indigenous storytellers while also promoting their work, providing funding for media and arts projects, and increasing access to professional representation.

MISSION

Crushing Colonialism’s mission is to uplift and tell the stories of Indigenous people through media and traditional storytelling. We produce international reporting and organizing to inform and empower marginalized community members, create professional opportunities, and advocate for the just funding and employment of Native artists, media workers and storytellers. In doing this we control our narratives in order to crush colonialism.

vision

Crushing Colonialism tells the stories of Indigenous people to create a world that values and honors Indigeneity.

Background, mission, Vision ASL

American Sign Language interpreter, Amber Braithwaite, Concierge Interpreting LLC (Hunkpati Dakota descendant from Crow Creek Sioux Tribe at Fort Thompson South Dakota)

the staff

Jen, a light-complected femme presenting person with black glasses, brown, wavy, shoulder-length hair, sits in a park with stone masonry and trees behind hir. Jen’s left fist is raised in the air, exposing tattoos and a Native designed turquoise, yellow, red, and white bangle bracelet. Hir right hand is holding onto one side of a Native made yellow, black, and white beaded medallion with the Crushing Colonialism logo in the center. Jen is wearing a black, short sleeve shirt and large, yellow earrings.

Jen DeerinWater

Founding Executive Director

Jen Deerinwater is a bisexual, Two-Spirit, multiply-disabled, citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning journalist and organizer who covers the myriad of issues their communities face with an intersectional lens. Jen is the founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism, an Indigenous storytelling, arts, and media non-profit organization in the so-called US. Jen has been awarded several fellowships, including the 2019 New Economies Reporting Project Fellowship, 2020 Disability Futures Fellowship, and the 2024 Disability Visibility fellowship at the Unexpected Shape Writing Academy. 

Jen received a B.A. from the University of Southern California in Gender Studies and Political Science with an emphasis on American Federal Government, a Graduate Certificate in Women in Politics and Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and a M.S. in Communications Management from Simmons College.

Jen’s writing and photography has been featured in a wide range of publications, including  Truthout, Eater, Rewire.News, and In These Times. Jen’s writing is included in the anthologies Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty First Century, We Organize to Change Everything: Fighting for Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice, Property Will Cost Us the Earth: Direct Action and the Future of the Global Climate Movement, Handbook on Disability: Critical Thought and Social Change in a Globalizing World, and Crip Authorship: Disability as Method. Jen is also hard at work on two books, including a 2SLGTBTQIA+ multi-faith anthology, Sacred and Subversive: Queer Voices on Faith and Spirituality (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) due out in 2026.

Jen has been interviewed for numerous outlets on their work and The Advocate named Jen a 2019 Champion of Pride. Jen is also a 2022 member of the Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.

Jen has served on numerous boards and councils throughout the years including the Ending the HIV Epidemic among Urban Natives Community Advisory Board with Johns Hopkins University and Native American Lifelines. Jen is currently a member of the Disability Community Advisory Group for the first of its kind LGBTQ Museum in New York City. They serve as a member of the Rooted Together: Building Power through Diasporic Dialogue cohort. Jen is also a member of the board of directors for the Disabled Journalist Association and a Senior Advisor for the Disability Culture Lab.

While a nomad at heart and raised in rural areas of their nation’s reservation in Oklahoma and in rural Texas, Jen currently lives on Piscataway land known as Washington, D.C.

A smiling Black woman with two afro puffs sits cross legged on a floor wearing khaki shorts, a tan cardigan, and a shirt that reads "Louisiana girls are sunshine mixed with a little bit of hurricane."

DeAnna Rhodes

Program Director

DeAnna Rhodes (she/her) is a content creator, event producer, Black culture devotee, production manager for several creative spaces in the DC Metro Area, and the founder of Sunny Dee Productions.

The mission of Sunny Dee is to facilitate connecting Black people with their heritage, create safe spaces for Black folks to explore themselves and their interests, and cultivate community – all things she feels are necessary in processing our collective hurt, helping each other heal, and moving towards our full liberation. DeAnna is an unabashed nerd, a womanist, and a proud alum of Howard University.

Photo description: Natalia is a brown-skinned woman with medium-long hair. She wears a dress with a pattern of leaves and flowers, and poses in front of some trees. Photo description: Natalia es una mujer de piel morena con pelo medio largo. Ella porta un vestido con un patrón de hojas y flores, y posa frente a unos árboles.

Natalia Molina

Director of Communications

Natalia Molina is a descendant of the Muysca indigenous people from Une, Cundinamarca in Colombia. 

She was born in Bogotá, received a B.A. from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Social Communication with an emphasis on Advertising, and a M.Sc. in Media, Communication and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Natalia has worked with indigenous peoples of Colombia and the Amazonia, and has specialized in the strategic communications of international cooperation projects for environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and sustainability.

The image shows Shana looking at the camera with a slight smile. She has dark brown shoulder-length hair, brown eyes, and a nose piercing on her left nostril. She is wearing a black sweater and brown wooden dangly earrings.

Shana Baumgartner

The Magazine, Editorial Director

Shana Baumgartner (Enrolled Oglala Lakota) joined Crushing Colonialism in 2024 as Editorial Director of The Magazine. Shana has had a 25+ year career in the field of education, spending the last 15 years in educational publishing holding various roles such as writer, senior editor, instructional designer, and editorial manager. She is well-versed in end-to-end print and digital publishing and has managed dozens of publications from concept to print, designed and scripted slide presentations, planned and produced videos, created interactive online courses, and more.

Born and raised in California, Shana earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2002. She earned her M.Ed. from UCLA, with an emphasis on social justice education. She has lived in England, New York City, and now resides in Pennsylvania, with her spouse, three children, two dogs, and four cats. In addition to her work in publishing, she also teaches yoga online and in local studios.

She is an active member in her community, an advocate for neurodiverse populations (especially children), and generally a champion for justice, equity, and inclusivity. 

Isabel Riofrío is a Latino woman, standing in the middle of a garden full of trees. She is wearing a white top and blue trousers, and part of her cherry blossom tattoo is exposed. She is smiling as she looks at the camera.

Isabel María Riofrío Miranda

The Magazine, Editor-in-Chief

Isabel María Riofrío Miranda is joining Crushing Colonialism as Editor-in-Chief of The Magazine. She is a seasoned communications professional with ten years of experience in public relations and journalism.is joining Crushing Colonialism as Editor-in-Chief of The Magazine. She is a seasoned communications professional with ten years of experience in public relations and journalism. is joining Crushing Colonialism as Editor-in-Chief of The Magazine. She is a seasoned communications professional with ten years of experience in public relations and journalism.

She obtained her Master’s degree in International Journalism at the City University of New York in 2015. She is fluent and has worked professionally in English, Spanish, and French. She is based in Quito, Ecuador, where she lives with her Frenchie named Yaku, meaning “water” in Quechua

Our Board Members

Light-skinned man with a shaved head and tattoos, wearing a dark floral shirt, standing pensively against a textured, dark wooden door, evoking a contemplative mood.

Phil mandelbaum aka
awkword

Labeled “Antifa militant” by Andy Ngo and “quite profound” by Chuck D of Public Enemy, AWKWORD is a 30-year organizer, activist and political and nonprofit strategist, a co-founder of the abolitionist organization TEN DEMANDS, a journalist and editor, and an internationally acclaimed Hip Hop artist.

Portrait of a smiling medium-brown-skinned man with his head resting on his right hand. He wears rectangular-shaped green and black acetate prescription glasses and sports a goatee with dark brown curly hair tied in the back. He has a Taino necklace made of small cylindrical clay beads and is wearing a beige V-neck t-shirt. Dusk sky and mountains are visible in the background.

henry navarro delgado

Henry Navarro Delgado, Board Secretary (he/him/él) is an interdisciplinary fashion designer, visual artist, activist, and scholar of Afro-Latinx and Taino-Arawak ancestry. His creative and scholarly practice explores the intersections of fashion, visual culture, and social engagement through both theory and applied research. Navarro Delgado’s participatory projects engage Black, Indigenous, racialized, rural, and other underrepresented communities with artmaking, media production, design, and entrepreneurship on their own terms. Meanwhile, his publications examine fashion, popular culture, and apparel sizing in relation to gender and other identities through a decolonial lens. Capitalizing on his expertise in equitable and inclusive design, scholarship, and media-making principles and practices, Navarro Delgado also contributes to several professional and academic organizations. He is a proud member of the disabled community.