Sarah Rhude is a lnu’sqw, Mi’kmaq/Algonquin/French woman on her mother’s side, and she has mixed European, settler ancestry on her father’s side. Sara was born in Sioux Lookout and was raised in Anishinabek territory, in and around Northern Ontario, as well as many Interior British Columbia territories. For the last twenty-one years she has had the honour to work, live, and learn in and amongst the Coast Salish, Nuuchahnulth and Kwakwaka’wakw Territories and peoples, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

As an artist, medicine maker, educator, student, mother and community member, Sara is rooted in land-based teachings and Indigenous ways of being and knowing. Working in and with Indigenous communities for the bulk of her career has incited her passion to facilitate the furthering of Indigenous governance, particularly with regards to education. Supporting youth and community in feeling accomplished, building mastery and securing healthy, vibrant futures is at the center of her compass. Sharing teachings, artistic and culturally based skills, and the knowledge and stories Sara has acquired is paramount in all the work she does.

Sara is a proud Lnu’/Indigenous woman and aims to foster the sense of pride she has in her culture, with all those she work and learn with. She carry with her teachings from her own territory, and the territories in which she was raised, but the bulk of her traditional knowledge has come to her in her time on Vancouver Island in Lkwungen territory, Victoria. Sara has been given many tools and medicines to work with from local knowledge keepers, and with humility and knowledge of traditional protocol she is grateful to share these with others in a culturally appropriate way.