Hon. Chelsey Branham, M.A.

Hon. Chelsey Branham (they/she) (Chickasaw/Cherokee/Choctaw) is an Indigenous futurist, community architect, creative, policy-wonk and executive consultant. They are the CEO of One Whole Village Consulting, LLC and a partner at Think Again Training and Consulting. She specializes in transformational equity in public administration, public policy, and economic development, with over 18 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As an Indigenous person and a leader in equitable transformation (ET), they have always sought out collective, community-based perspectives to find innovative solutions to systemic issues.

Transforming systems through policy improvement and development has been a huge priority in Branham’s career, as both a state legislator and a consultant. She has also spent considerable time in grassroots advocacy, community mobilization, and campaign management. Much of their work centers on building bridges between communities and creating capacity and access to resources for communities of color. Their work has taken them through the intersections of economic, climate, food, housing, health and education justices, as well as intimate partner violence prevention and harm reduction.    

At Smith College School for Social Work, Branham serves as an adjunct professor of Indigenous Social Welfare and Public Policy, Decolonizing and Indigenizing Research Practices, Program Evaluation from Indigenous and Black Feminist perspectives, Community-Based Anti-Racism Experience and more. Branham earned their B.A. in psychology and religious studies, and their M.A. in international economics and development from the University of Oklahoma.