Change makers elected to Navajo Nation leadership

Cherilyn Yazzie, owner of Coffee Pot Farms in Dilkon, Arizona, and Germaine Simonson, owner of Rocky Ridge Gas + Market in Hard Rock, Arizona won their seats in the 25th Navajo Nation Council and are hoping to use their new leadership positions to help Navajo owned small businesses thrive on the Navajo Nation.

Yazzie, a former Kinship Lending member, will be representing the following Chapter Houses, Dilkon, Greasewood, Indian Wells, Whitecomb and Teesto. Simonson, a alumni of the Change Labs Incubator, will be representing Black Mesa, Forest Lake, Hardrock, Pinon and Whippoorwill Chapters.

The two women join a historic council with a record number of women leaders serving in Council Delegate seats. There will be nine women representing their communities along with the Navajo Nation’s first female vice-president, Richelle Montoya. Montoya was the running mate of Dr. Buu Nygren, former Change Labs Board Chair and newly elected President of the Navajo Nation. Nygren, Yazzie, and Simonson will be installed in office on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.

Read the story of Yazzie and Simonson in the Change Labs change maker series.