Celeste Kimimila Terry, BA
Oglala Lakota
Pronouns: she/her/winyan
Position(s):
Program Coordinator at Indigenous Data Alliance
Founder of Wawokiye LLC
Research Assistant for Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State, University of Denver
Board member of WRISE Indigenous Peoples’ Chapter
Celeste Kimimila Terry (Oglala Lakota) is a researcher, and data scientist whose tiospaye (family) is of the Wanbli Hohpi located in Wanblee, South Dakota. Born in Boston and raised in Denver, Colorado; Celeste holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Indigenous Law & Science from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She has also developed and taught STEM programming for Native youth and participated in national Native youth leadership initiatives, including the first White House Tribal Youth Gathering.
With 21 years of experience in web development, and over a decade of experience in systems design, and digital strategy; her work focuses on building ethical, sovereignty-aligned data infrastructures for Indigenous communities. Specializing in GIS mapping, Indigenous Data Sovereignty frameworks, and continuous consent–based data protocols; she serves as a core contributor to an Indigenous-led ICWA research team, supporting methodology, mapping, and digital storytelling.
Celeste is a founder of Wawokiye LLC, an Indigenous professionals’ collective dedicated to culturally grounded research and digital resource creation. In 2025, her team was selected as a semi-finalist for the MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellowship for their work advancing tribal governance transitions and data infrastructures.
Across her career, Celeste has worked in website development, STEM education, Native youth advocacy, radio production, and community-based research. Her work centers on strengthening self-determination, eradicating systemic erasure, and supporting Indigenous Nations in reviving systems and processes grounded in respective traditional laws, practices, and knowledge.