Megan McBride

Megan (she/her) lives on Dena’ina lands in Anchorage. She has 15 years of experience working in education both as a high school social studies teacher and with the nonprofit program Alaska Youth for Environmental Action. At See Stories, Megan is our Educator Programs Manager.

Roben Itchoak

Roben is an Iñupiaq educator in Shishmaref. She was a former participant in a See Stories professional development workshop and has transformed into a dedicated collaborator. Serving on steering committees and offering valuable insights, Roben plays a key advisory role in shaping both professional development and student workshop programs for See Stories.

Rafael Bitanga

Rafael is a See Stories alum. He started Bitanga Productions, his own film and photography business. Rafael graduated from Cornell University. Rafael will serve as one of our film instructors. 

Seth Bader

Seth lives on Lingít Aaní (Tlingit) Land. He taught science for 10 years. Now he manages See Stories’ youth programs. He also founded Fathoms Alaska, a wilderness program for teens. Seth will serve as one of our film instructors.

Marie Acemah

Marie Acemah (she/her) is a mama, educator and dreamer. With a desire to become an educator outside of traditional settings, she applied the skills she had gained delving into her Alaskan, Midwestern and Scandinavian story to support youth in exploring their own stories through film. Marie is See Stories Founder and Director. Marie lives on Dena’ina Land. 

Heather McClain

Heather McClain (she/her) lives and works on the unceded lands of the Eklutna Dena’ina. She is an Archivist at the Anchorage Museum and is an experienced museum professional with a background in ethical stewardship of collections and providing equitable access to communities. She has a Master of Arts in Anthropology with a focus in Museum and Heritage Studies from the University of Denver and is graduating in June with her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington.

Anjuli Grantham

Anjuli is a writer and historian who grew up on a fish site on Kodiak. In her words: “I am a public historian, museum curator, published writer, radio producer, former teacher and non-profit development professional. Mostly I am a chronic instigator of multi-format public arts and humanities projects.” Anjuli will lead a session about how to be a scrappy primary source researcher whether utilizing the Library of Congress digital collections or local sources, and how to use objects as primary sources.

Karen Gray

Karen Gray has worked for the Alaska State Archives on and off since 1992.  She began her career working in museums with medieval manuscripts and incunabula, progressed to photo archiving for the National Geographic Society, and now tackles preservation issues for non-textual records such as microforms and electronic records, helping to preserve Alaska’s historical information for generations to come.

Angela Schmidt

Angela Schmidt is film archivist with the Alaska Film Archives, Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks. She holds a Master’s Degree in Arctic and Northern Studies from University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), as well as undergraduate degrees in Wildlife Biology from UAF and Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State University. She currently serves on the board of the Alaska Historical Society. She and her husband have three cats and enjoy renovating their historical Fairbanks home on the weekends.

Becky Butler Gallagos

Becky is an archivist at the UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections. Her favorite archival items are diaries (She loves reading secrets!) and lantern slides. She became an archivist because she believes in the power of stories and how we construct them — her job is to help people find stories from the past and present.

Yaari Walker

Yaari is a spiritual healer, scholar, and culture bearer from Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island. She has worked as the Indigenous Consultant at Alaska Pacific University, a Culture Bearer at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and as a Cultural Peer Support Specialist with Cook Inlet Tribal Council. She is a producer of the PBS One with the Whale and recently authored a memoir titled Aatak Ayguumun Angwaaghnaqi: Keep Paddling Against the Wind.

Howdice Brown III

Howdice Brown III is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker of Iñupiaq descent whose family comes from Elim, Alaska. A graduate of UAA, he has spent the last 16 years in the commercial film and documentary industry. Throughout his career, Howdice has traveled to many parts of Alaska; working on projects related to culture, art, history and health. He currently holds the title of Head of Production at Channel Films as well as being 1/3 of Native Time. www.howdicebrown.com

Laya Jamali

Laya was born and raised in Iran.She is a daughter, a sister, a partner and an aunt. She was born during the Golf War and her childhood was colored with fear, sounds of rockets, missiles, chaos as well as the pockets of hope for survival near other bodies at the underground shelters. As a child, she enjoyed stories that gave her hope for a bright future. 

Laya studied Brain Imaging and Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Birmingham and received her MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from St. Marys’ College of California. Currently, Laya lives on the unceded Ohlone land in Berkeley California where she works as a therapist. Laya enjoys poetry, loves gardening and plants, meditating, dancing, drawing, painting and making things with her hands.

Amy Tula.aan Tláa Valentine

Amy (Tula.aan Tláa) Valentine lives and works on the unceded lands of the Eklutna Dena’ina people. As an Anchorage Museum Archivist with a degree in Museum Studies, she continues learning from and contributing to the continued decolonization of collections management practices. While she is knowledgeable in accessing digital and photographic collections, her special interests include Indigenous community collaboration, working with Cultural Heritage collections, and amplifying historically marginalized voices in archives spaces.