Last Updated: 03 Jan, 2025 | Views: 243
Age: 64
Profession: Politician
Famous For: United States Secretary of the Interior
Higher Education: University of New Mexico (BA, JD)
About (profile/biography)
Deb Haaland made history as the first Native American Cabinet Secretary, leading the Department of Interior since 2021. A member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, she transformed from a single mother who once relied on food stamps to a powerful voice for indigenous rights, environmental protection, and public lands conservation.
Deb Haaland Career Milestones:
• 2015-2017: New Mexico Democratic Party Chair
• 2019-2021: U.S. Representative, New Mexico
• 2019: Vice Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources
• 2021-present: U.S. Secretary of the Interior
• 2021: Launched Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
Deb Haaland Awards & Recognition:
• National Congress of American Indians Leadership Award
• Sierra Club's Distinguished Achievement Award
• Native American Leadership Award
• Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award
• American Indian Society's Distinguished Service Award
Deb Haaland Unknown Facts:
• Started a salsa company to help pay for law school while raising her daughter as a single mother.
• Still participates in traditional Pueblo pottery making, creating pieces during weekends to maintain cultural connection.
• Runs marathons wearing traditional turquoise jewelry, completing 26.2 miles in honor of Native women's resilience.
• Keeps her grandmother's corn pollen blessing in her office as a reminder of her heritage and responsibility.
• Makes her own traditional regalia, spending months hand-beading ceremonial outfits.
• Learned her tribe's traditional language at age 40 to better preserve cultural heritage.
• Maintains a medicine garden at home, growing traditional herbs used in Pueblo healing.
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