Sarah Eagle Heart
Emmy Award Winning Storyteller
Sarah Eagle Heart
Emmy Award Winning Storyteller
Biography
Sarah Eagle Heart (Oglala Lakota) is an Emmy award winning storyteller and entrepreneur whose perspective is rooted in her experiences growing up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Ms. Eagle Heart is an internationally accomplished executive with a diverse background in tribal, corporate, and non-profit organizations focused on cultural education, advocacy, and healing with a unique vantage point and desire to shift culture and amplify impact.
Ms. Eagle Heart currently focuses in the areas of education, entertainment and energy with True Enterprises. She co-founded Zuyá Entertainment with Twila True and will direct her first documentary feature in 2023. She also supports tribal relations and business development with TrueAnarock on renewable energy. Ms. Eagle Heart is also a co-founder and strategic advisor to Return to the Heart Foundation, a non-profit focused on supporting innovative Indigenous women-led initiatives.
Her most recent accomplishments include publishing a personal development memoir in 2023, Ms. Eagle Heart published a personal development/memoir with her twin sister titled Warrior Princesses Strike Back: How Lakota Twins Fight Oppression and Heal through Connectedness; Executive Producer of award nominated documentary feature film Lakota Nation vs United States which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2022; and contributing to feminist anthology This is How We Come Back Stronger published in the UK and US in April 2021.
Over her career, Ms. Eagle Heart has co-created advocacy campaigns with Anne Hathaway, John Legend, Mark Ruffalo, Taboo, The Episcopal Church, Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the Obama Administration, World Council of Churches, and Women’s March.
Ms. Eagle Heart is the former CEO for Native Americans in Philanthropy (2015-2019) which focuses on increasing investment in Indian Country through education, engagement and empowerment. Her projects included: transitioning the Generation Indigenous initiative from the Obama Administration to the philanthropic sector in 2016; co-creating Indigenous Women Rise which inspired 1000 indigenous women to march in Women’s March on Washington, DC in 2017; co-created the StandNVote PSA with Mark Ruffalo, and created the Truth and Healing Campaign utilizing The Blanket Exercise. She also worked with Baobab Studios and Get Lifted to develop a virtual reality project titled “Crow: The Legend” in which she shared her voice for Luna, along with John Legend, Oprah, Liza Koshy, Constance Wu, Tye Sheridan and Diego Luna with narrator Randy Edmonds (Caddo/Kiowa). Ms. Eagle Heart also won an Emmy as a producer “Crow: The Legend” at 46th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Interactive Media.
Ms. Eagle Heart is also a former member of the staff of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church headquartered in New York City (2009-2015) where she served faith-based communities internationally as a Program Officer for Indigenous Ministries and Team Leader for Diversity, Social Justice, and Environmental Ministries. She focused on supporting asset based community development, healing and cross sectional public policy initiatives with tribal leaders for over a decade, including sparking the world-wide movement to Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery in 2015.
Ms. Eagle Heart began her career working for almost five years at Viejas Casino and Outlets in Marketing and Advertising (2001-2005). She focused on events, promotions and communications. Ms. Eagle Heart’s experience working at grassroots nonprofits, corporate tribal organizations, and large international non-governmental organizations has allowed her the unique vantage point to amplify impact. In this current post genocide era in which history with Indigenous Peoples has been omitted from most school systems, she shares cultural knowledge to help organizations understand and navigate the essential need for advocacy, cross-cultural communication, collaboration, education, healing, mutual respect, and partnership for Indigenous Peoples.
Ms. Eagle Heart is a 2019 winner of the American Express Next Generation Leadership Award, as well as a winner of the 2017 National Center for the American Indian Enterprise and Development 40 under 40 Award. Ms. Eagle Heart holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications and American Indian Studies from Black Hills State University, as well as a Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in global management from the University of Phoenix. Ms. Eagle Heart is currently serving on the board of directors for the PRISM Reports and The Women’s March. She is also a co-founder of the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
Speaker Videos
Crow: The Legend - Animated Short Film
Crow: The Legend – Behind the Scenes
Warrior Princesses Strike Back | Sarah Eagle Heart and Emma Eagle Heart-White
Oyate Today Interview
Speech Topics
Native American Storytelling Traditions
Sarah Eagle Heart, a Lakota activist, author and producer, is a powerful storyteller who shares tales told from an Indigenous women’s perspective. In this talk, Sarah tells why Indigenous women are the center of their communities—organizing for their people—and the transformational healing and teaching through Indigenous stories. She also tackles stereotypes, how to create space for Indigenous narrative and why Indigenous women are the key to saving Mother Earth.
The Indigenous Experience
Sarah Eagle Heart is on a mission. A Lakota activist, author and producer, she is dogged about setting the record straight about Native American history through the power of storytelling. And she has done just that. Through her work, she has made a large impact on how Indigenous people are viewed and has brought healing to her people and their history. In this moving talk, Sarah shares the history of Native Americans and some of the great Indigenous leaders. She also connects how these stories and leaders relate to today’s value systems. This talk can be customized to go into specific, deeper topics, such as the forgotten and tragic history of Indigenous boarding schools, intergenerational traumas Native American communities are feeling today and missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Setting the Record Straight on Native American History Through Storytelling
It’s no secret that Sarah Eagle Heart is passionate about her work on behalf of Native Americans. In addition to working as Co-CEO of Return to the Heart Foundation, an Indigenous women-led organization focused on resourcing innovative Indigenous women-led initiatives in the ecosystems of narrative change, healing, climate justice, civic engagement, restorative and regenerative development, Sarah spends her time creating content and space to tackle stereotypes of Indigenous people through storytelling. It’s work that matters. In this talk, Sarah discusses her work on the award-winning animated short Crow: the Legend; working in VR and animation; her current projects with a number of celebrities; and how storytelling can change the narrative and help heal Native American communities.
Indigenous Holistic World Views
Mitakuye Oyasin is the Lakota amen. It means we are all related, we are all connected … to the two-legged, four-legged, winged and Mother Earth. This knowledge is inherent from the time we are born. We are constantly reminded that the world is bigger than ourselves. In this inspirational talk, Sarah Eagle Heart, a Lakota activist, author and producer, shares the Lakota creation stories, the importance of keeping them alive and how they connect to different values and world views.
Transforming Hearts
From the time they are young, the Lakota people are taught everyone is a leader and each person has an opportunity to help their people. That’s something that Sarah Eagle Heart has taken to heart as a Lakota activist, author and producer. In this inspiring talk, Sarah tells the stories of the great Lakota who have come before her, as well as the story of her childhood. She also shares how to transform hearts by the use of narrative and how we can each make the world a better place, no matter where we come from.
Empowering Women
Sarah Eagle Heart and her sister, Emma Eagle Heart-White, had one mission in mind when they wrote their new book Warrior-Princesses Strike Back: How Lakhota Twins Fight Oppression and Heal Through Connectedness: to help other women find a way through the barriers they face. It’s something they are deeply passionate about and have been since they were young. And with women’s rights seemingly slipping away more each day, they’re even more invested in ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment. In this talk, Sarah shares her own journey into activism for women’s rights—from the Indigenous women’s allyship with the Women’s March to the horrendous story of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women to leading the charge for pro-choice rights and women’s empowerment. Sarah also offers solutions and shows her audiences how we can all effectively raise our voices and create transformative social change.
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