I am a Cherokee composer, performing artist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and Public Fellow at the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities at the University of Tulsa. My work exists at the intersection of Indigenous cultural memory and Western classical traditions, exploring the expressive potential of orchestral song forms while asserting the presence of Native voices in spaces where they have historically been excluded. Recognized through awards including CACHE Create and the Artist Creative Fund as well as significant commissions from multiple Indigenous musicians, my compositions and performances advance both artistic innovation and cultural advocacy.

My father and my grandmother embodied my direct Cherokee lineage. Neither had formal education in the arts or university-level education, so when I entered classical training, it was a completely new horizon for my ancestral line. My musical career began at age eleven when I first picked up the violin, though my earliest experiments with sound were in my father’s home recording studio. Surrounded by synthesizers, outboard effects, and guitars in the 1980s and 1990s, I discovered the possibilities of sound and composition in an environment that blurred the line between experiment and play.

Early recognition of music’s cultural power came through my participation in Arrowdynamics, a youth choir that performed Oklahoma, My Native Land, composed by Martha Barrett, at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Voted into law as the state children’s song in 1995, this experience instilled in me the conviction that music is not only a personal pursuit but also a vehicle for cultural presence and survival. My artistic sensibilities were further shaped by hand-tinting photography under Cherokee artist Shan Goshorn, whose integration of Native history and politics demonstrated how art can carry narrative weight while remaining deeply personal. Her mentorship instilled a commitment to pursue art with rigor, integrity, and cultural responsibility—a philosophy that informs all my compositions.

Formal training at Tulsa Community College, where I earned a full scholarship for violin performance (2003–2006), immersed me in the discipline and rigor of orchestral and chamber music. Performing masterworks including Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Barber’s Adagio for Strings, I developed a nuanced sense of phrasing, orchestral color, and ensemble collaboration that underpins my compositional approach. Inheriting my father’s collection of instruments and recording equipment allowed me to establish Wild Mountain Studios in 2019 with my husband, composer and engineer Mark Kuykendall, creating a creative retreat where music could be developed in dialogue with Indigenous values and natural surroundings, on land purchased from Osage allottee Doug Martin.

In December of 2023, I joined the Juilliard School’s Extension Program for Music Composition, focusing on composition and scoring to picture. In August 2024, I was awarded the CACHE Create $10,000 Artist Creative Fund to premiere Oklahoma Woman Quartet the following year. In September 2024, I completed REQUIEM, the first-ever requiem composed in the Cherokee language, asserting Indigenous expression within large-scale orchestral traditions. On March 1, 2024, I premiered Oklahoma Woman Quartet, a cycle of eleven songs for string quartet and voice, marking the first string quartet ever premiered by a Cherokee woman. In July 2025, I was named a Public Fellow for the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities at the University of Tulsa, a 2025–2026 fellowship recognizing the cultural significance of my work and its intersection with social engagement.

These experiences led me to launch the Repertoire Inclusion Initiative in summer 2025, a project dedicated to amplifying Indigenous and women’s voices in classical music. Following participation in the Musician Changemaker Accelerator, I was awarded as a juried artist with Music to Life, a national nonprofit supporting musician changemakers, in August 2025. These roles connect my creative work to systemic change, ensuring that the repertoire of tomorrow reflects the voices too long excluded.

Through this initiative, I have received commissions from Indigenous classical musicians whose projects extend this mission. Cherokee Nation violinist Ashtin Johnson, pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, commissioned me for her doctoral research and a performance in Spring 2026. I have also been commissioned by Lorena Navarro of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, whose dissertation addresses the absence of percussion repertoire by Indigenous composers. By commissioning and premiering new works by Indigenous composers, Navarro’s advocacy is building a new repertoire, and my contributions form part of that lineage, which will be performed by Navarro in Spring 2026. My work is also forthcoming in Weaving Sounds in early 2026, a piano anthology curated by Indigenous composer Connor Chee and published by the Frances Clark Center for Piano Pedagogy. This project embeds Indigenous voices directly into the student repertoire, ensuring that cultural presence is not confined to the margins but built into the foundation of musical education.

In addition to concert music, I have composed and scored films including WINIKO: Reunions, which explores the experiences of Indigenous descendants reconnecting with Smithsonian Museum collection objects, and Sacred Red Rock, a documentary on the rematriation of a ceremonial landmark back to the Kaw Nation. Both films premiered in 2025 and were screened at the First Americans Museum, exemplifying my commitment to asserting Native voices in media where they are largely absent.

My current compositional focus, MODERN PEOPLE: Post-Assimilation Music, expands these themes into symphonic song cycles with voice. Integrating my own performances as vocalist alongside the orchestra, these works challenge canonical assumptions that symphonic music cannot be songs, asserting that emotional depth, ecstatic beauty, and social commentary can emerge from an Indigenous woman’s perspective.

Ultimately, my career is defined by the integration of artistic excellence, cultural advocacy, and innovative performance. From early experiments in my father’s studio to groundbreaking premieres, film scores, and repertoire initiatives, my work embodies a commitment to challenging stereotypes, expanding representation, and demonstrating the profound capacity of Indigenous and women’s voices in classical music.