Amelia Marchand earned a BA in anthropology from Eastern Washington University, an MA in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School, and has more than 25 years working in the cultural and natural resources fields. She co-founded an Indigenous-led plant and pollinator conservation nonprofit, L.I.G.H.T. Foundation, and volunteers with the Center for World Indigenous Studies, an education, research, and public policy nonprofit. Marchand is a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, an alumnus of Presidential Classroom and the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, and advises governments, academia, and organizations on Indigenous Knowledges, sovereignty, relations, and climate issues. A citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, she has diverse Indigenous and European heritage.