American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month Spotlight: Joylyn Ankeney

American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

To center diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, we invited OSCPA members to share their personal and professional experiences with culture and identity.

I am an enrolled member of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.  

When I was invited to participate in the Member Spotlight series, I was excited for the opportunity and immediately reached out to my colleague, Melissa Berndt. Melissa is a Partner & General Counsel at Aldrich CPA's + Advisors and she is also Native American.  Melissa has been a mentor to me in my career and has led the way at Aldrich as we work toward increasing outreach to underrepresented populations in the accounting profession.  We often talk about what representation in the industry looks like.  Representation is important when trying to create spaces that feel safe and achievable for young professionals but that representation needs to be visible to make an impact, I appreciate the opportunity to add visibility to our representation.  

It is hard to create visible representation when the definition of 'professional' has historically meant we present ourselves in professional settings in a way that is designed to "fit in."   We don't show up to professional events in ribbon skirts and braids, we wear suits and straighten our hair because historically that's what we've been told is required to be a respected as a professional.  Only in the past few years have I started to redefine what 'professional' looks like for myself because I don't want to perpetuate the idea that there is only one picture of professional.  

My grandmother is 95 years old. In 2021 - at the age of 93 she asked me to help her sell her business so she could retire.  She ran her own business in Pacific City for 40 years.  When I think about what Native American Heritage Month means to me, I think of her.  She grew up at a time when being "Indian" was something she felt she had to hide.  She never wore her hair in braids because she didn't want people to see her as "Indian" so she cut it short to fit in. She put herself through business school and spent over 70 years fitting in to the narrow definition of professional that means we don't allow our heritage to show.  She was proud of her heritage and her family but she also knew that she had to present herself in a way that others could accept so she could have a job and feed her family.

So now I do occasionally show up at the office in braids - especially on days when I'm thinking of my grandmother. I have dresses by Native designers in my closet that I wear to the office and I love to wear beaded earrings whenever I can.  Dresses, braids, beaded earrings - none of it fixes the standard overnight, but it helps remind me to be visible, to remember who I am even when I'm in the office.  I'm grateful to be in a position that allows me to be visible and I hope that visibility helps create a space where others feel safe being themselves and where we can invite more people into the profession that haven't historically seen themselves here.

I encourage others to expand their definition of professional, too.  The more visibility we have to alternate ideas of what it can look like to show up as a professional the more space we create for people to join us here. 

Read more DEI centered Member Spotlights