Co-Executive Director of Rooted Ways

Stephanie Craig is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Her people are Santiam and Yoncalla Kalapuya, Takelma Rogue River, Cow Creek Umpqua, Clackamas Chinook, Upper Chinook, Mohawk, and Métis. On her father’s side, she is Boston, or American.

She is a seventh-generation traditional basket weaver, culture keeper, and teacher. Stephanie carries the teachings of her grandmothers, master weavers, who passed down their knowledge through generations.

Stephanie holds a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on anthropology, western Oregon archaeology and cultures, folklore, and museum studies specializing in Indigenous collections management, education, and interpretation. She is the founder of Kalapuya Weaving and Consulting and the co-executive director of Rooted Ways: An Indigenous Cultural & Ecological Initiative, where she works to restore both land and lifeways for future generations.

She is a mother, wife, daughter, and community leader. She creates regalia, beadwork, and cultural belongings; she gathers medicines, teaches youth, and leads workshops that connect people back to the land and to ancestral knowledge. Her work is not just art—it is prayer, resilience, and continuation.

Stephanie stands in the strength of her ancestors, chosen to carry their knowledge and gifted the responsibility to share it. Guided by humility and love for her people, she walks with honesty and heart, ensuring that the ways of her old ones endure and thrive.

Co-Executive Director of Rooted Ways

Molly Leno is of Rogue River, Umpqua, and Oglala Sioux ancestry. Following in her mother’s footsteps—who was the first queen to represent the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in the restoration era—Molly grew up representing her Tribe and Native organizations as Royalty throughout her youth and teenage years. For more than 18 years she was crowned Tribal Royalty, carrying the responsibility of representing her people with dignity, pride, and leadership. She has organized powwows, supported families through funerals and times of loss, and continues to serve as a spiritual leader and community helper.

Molly is also a women’s traditional and jingle dress champion powwow dancer, embodying strength, prayer, and the beauty of her people with every step. Beyond the arena, she is a mother, daughter, grandmother, and auntie whose life is dedicated to family, community, and cultural continuance. She practices traditional lifeways including making regalia, beadwork, hide processing, leatherwork, and working with feathers. She also prepares and uses traditional medicines, and pours water for the sweat lodge. Her hands create, heal, and teach, carrying forward the knowledge passed down through the old ones before her.

Molly was also present at the Standing Rock camps during the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance, where she lived her values by helping in camp and providing care, strength, and support to protect the land and water. Known for her honesty and generous heart, she is a spiritual leader who inspires others through both word and action.

Her vision is to reconnect Tribal members with the land and the ways of the ancestors, ensuring that traditional teachings are not only remembered, but lived. Through dance, ceremony, and daily practice, Molly continues to embody resilience, love, and the responsibility of carrying forward Indigenous lifeways.