Leslie Jonas (she/her) is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe; Leslie is an experienced Senior Strategist with a demonstrated history of working in nonprofits, tribal governments, and senior-level administration and planning. She is skilled in Management, Media and Event planning, Client Relations, Development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and land conservation, specifically Indigenous land conservation, focusing on cultural respect. Leslie has spent the past 12 years as Co-founder and Vice-chairwoman of the first Native-led land trust east of the Mississippi, the Native Land Conservancy, Inc. (NLC). The NLC is involved with numerous land conservation and preservation projects from Cape Cod and the islands, west to the Blackstone River, and North to the Merrimack. Leslie first became actively engaged in land conservation and the health and wellness of our environment when she worked for the New Alchemy Institute, now called the Green Center, in her hometown of Falmouth on Cape Cod. During the past few years, she has been researching and focusing on Climate Change from the Indigenous Perspective. This work for the Native Land Conservancy has led her to co-teach and co-advise environmental courses in social/environmental justice at UMASS Boston and MIT, speaking publicly on climate change and producing educational video tools for audiences across many disciplines. Leslie is a leading professional with a BA in Mass Communications and Television Production from Emerson College and an MS in Community Economic Development. She manages Sr. level pre-award, award, and post-award grants for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's WHOI Sea Grant Program in her day-to-day work. Recently, Leslie has provided professional development assessment, strategy, and grants education to Indian Tribes and other non-profits, furthering an organization's grant writing capacity to increase revenue and community services. During the summer of 2021, she was invited to sit on the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) Advisory Board for the state of MA. where she helps to advocate for human rights to land and clean water in MA with teams of CLF environmental experts.