Founding member and President, Bev Sellars is a mother and grandmother but is more famously known as Auntie Bev. She was the elected Chief of her Secwepemc community for 12 years.

She is an award-winning author of They Called Me Number One, a memoir and historical record of her experiences at a residential school near Williams Lake BC. Her second book, Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival, looks at the history of Canada from an Indigenous perspective.

Auntie Bev speaks on Indigenous rights and environmental protection, delivering keynote addresses at conferences, universities, and museums. Bev has a degree in history from the University of Victoria and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She is a former member and Chair of First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM). Bev’s vision and years of experience help our organization grow and succeed.

Snxakila is a Director at MFS and is a knowledge keeper and fluent language speaker. He studied with his elders over the course of two decades, and is highly respected within academic and indigenous communities for his deep love and dedication for all things Nuxalk. He has been a critical link between generations in the revitalization of Nuxalk language and culture, and is an expert consultant to the Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Canadian Museum of Man, among others. He lives with his partner and pets in Nuxalkulmc (Bella Coola, BC), where he continues to educate, lead and revitalize.

Jean William is a Director at MFS and a member of the Texelc community (Williams Lake Indian Band). She is currently an Elder mentor and Cultural advisor. She is an experienced Secwepemc language speaker and long term Secwepemc language teacher in Williams Lake, BC.

Jean provided valuable input for the Band’s Traditional Use Studies and Traditional Use Projects that focussed on oral histories. She preserved the traditional knowledge by interviewing, recording, and documenting the knowledge the Texelc Elders were willing to share. These Elders inspired her teachings and she is active in preserving, protecting and sharing her own traditional knowledge.

Jean realizes the importance of caring for all of Secwepemculecw because the land for the Secwepemc is so important. The land provides sustenance for the Elders and community members. They continue to rely on the land and water to harvest their traditional foods of salmon, deer and moose meat, berries and medicinal plants. Jean willingly offers her traditional knowledge to others in order to continue to pass on the traditional knowledge of the Secwepemc people.

Ximana (Nola Mack) is a chef and Director at MFS from the Nuxalk and Carrier from Nations. She began her culinary journey in 2007 at Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek and continued her training in World Cuisine at the Art Institute in Vancouver in 2009. There she discovered her passion for Indigenous cuisine and recognized the lack of Indigenous culinary representation within the industry.

After operating a catering business and later co-owning the family-run Phoenix Spirit Café in Bella Coola, Ximana shifted her focus to harvesting traditional foods alongside her family. Deeply rooted in the teachings of her childhood, working in the smokehouse, processing salmon and moose, and learning from her late grandmother she is dedicated to preserving and sharing Nuxalk food knowledge with future generations.

As a Medicine Chef, Ximana specializes in Nuxalk traditional foods and Indigenous food systems. She has served as a guest chef for organizations including the Bill Reid Gallery and catered at the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal.

Nuskmata is the Executive Director of MFS and an international spokesperson on indigenous rights and community advocacy. Following the 2014 Mount Polley Mine Disaster, which happened in her motherland of Secwepemculecw, she traveled globally to share her experiences with mining, and indigenous teachings of growing up in a traditional indigenous family. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Communications & Culture from York University (Toronto) and is a mother and auntie who loves to cook, sing, harvest traditional foods and travel. You can find her in the smokehouse and on the front lines of Nuxalkulmc organizing and rebuilding her ancestral village of Nusq'lst.

Debbie’s cultural teachings were instilled by parents (John Phillips from Xatśūll and late Dorothy Phillips, nee Charleyboy, from Tsi Del Del), and she grew up understanding the importance of her land, animals, plants, and medicine; these are now passed down to her own children.  In 2014, Debbie graduated with her BBA from VIU. Currently, she is pursuing a MScM.

At MFS, Debbie is taking the lead on 'putting our footprint back on the land' and will be working with the Elders, knowledge holders and Secwepemc communities.  Te Tiweltk (Quesnel Lake) has always been the traditional territory of the Secwepemc peoples.  Because of death from foreign diseases and racist laws that removed us from that area, our permanent footprint was not visible to others.  We continued to do ceremonies, pick berries, gather medicines, camp, fish, hunt and enjoy the area.  Our Secwepemc history goes back before newcomers arrived and now we will reestablish our permanent footprint in the area.   

Spsana is the MFS Media Manager. Raised by her grandparents and grounded in Nuxalk teachings, she carries forward traditional knowledge through leadership, youth engagement, cultural revitalization, and Indigenous research. As a community visionary and cultural advocate with experience in media, Spsana represents her family within the Nuxalk Nation Hereditary Government, and is the artist and community advocate behind “Nuxalk Rising” platforms.

Cecilia DeRose was a Director at MFS and a highly respected and loved Secwepemc elder who spent much of her life teaching her language and culture to hundreds of students, and was acknowledged with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. During retirement, Cecilia stayed busy with her many grandchildren and was regularly found picking berries and medicines, making moccasins, sharing a meal, laughing and participating in the Council of Keye7es (grandmothers) in Northern Secwepemculecw.