Malissa Tayaba’s mission is upholding a culture and traditions tied to the land

Culture. That’s the one word that Malissa Tayaba has kept front of mind when pursuing her work for the last decade and as she continues moving forward.

Tayaba is the tribal council vice chair and director of traditional ecological knowledge for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. She said her tribe’s culture was almost lost after the government forced them from their homes in the 1800s and prohibited their religious and cultural practices.

Now, she is bringing back her community’s traditions, history and sovereignty so that it isn’t nearly lost again.

“My tribe has grown from having nothing to having something,” Tayaba said.

Tayaba was one of the first children to live on the reservation when California gave land back to her tribe in 1980 when she was 2 years old. It’s why she said she’s so rooted in her community.

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Growing up poor on the reservation in the predominantly white and wealthy El Dorado County shaped her, Tayaba said, having been in classrooms where she was the only brown person.

She’s been a council member for over 20 years and has worn many different hats in the tribe.

She is the current director of traditional ecological knowledge, a department focused on preserving Indigenous ways learned through interactions with the environment. Tayaba regularly moves between worlds, she said, from helping members of her tribe on the reservation to showing up for her community at the state Capitol to educating non-native groups on the tribe.

Tayaba said her work never ends.

“We are not going to stop,” Tayaba said. “The tribe was here before and we are here now, and we are going to be here in the future.”

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