Meet the Aunties

Apollonia Piña (Mvskoke and Xicana)

Apollonia is a Mvskoke and Xicana researcher. Apollonia’s life as an Indigenous activist started with her Native and Xicano parents and informs her work in academia and community involvement in Northeast Oklahoma. Presently, she is the Tulsa chapter organizer in the Native women-led non-profit initiative Matriarch and developer of a Native American focused STEM camp for Native youth. Her research interests include Indigenous perspectives in science and math, Indigenous sexuality, Indigenous womanism, and promoting Natives in STEM. When time allows, she enjoys scouting rare books, rock and roll, origin stories, and connecting the dots. She resides on Mvskoke lands in Tvlse, Okla Humma with her son José.

“I wanted to get involved with the Aunties because as the mother to an indigenous son and as a Native American woman belonging to a tribe with our own history of forced family separations, we are uniquely positioned to understand the impact and trauma forced family separations has on kids. With that, we see it as our duty to protect and help indigenous and Native children by any means we can.”