Women across Native America are leading, innovating, and inspiring. They are building on a proud legacy of Indigenous women’s leadership that stretches back to time immemorial. Even as European kings and nations sought patriarchal dominion over the New World, Native communities continued to prioritize women as goddesses, healers, and leaders. And to this day, Native women remain a central force in their communities and beyond, and increasingly serve as a guiding light for gender equality worldwide.

Women Rule follows four extraordinary individuals from across the country who carry forward these deep traditions to better their communities, their lands, and the world. Each faces a radically different challenge. Yet, they all overcome by drawing upon a shared history of Indigenous women’s power that has always echoed across this land.

Political trailblazer Ruth Buffalo of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, fights for the rights of Native people and vulnerable people across North Dakota as a state representative. Her success, and that of other Native women in all levels of government across the nation, is the long-delayed fulfillment of a destiny that is fundamental to Native America.

Betty Osceola of the Miccosukee Nation has dedicated her life to saving her traditional territory, the Everglades, through education and headline-grabbing activism. She uses her deep connection to the land to protect the environment and to drive forward major projects to preserve this place for future generations.

Arigon Starr, an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, employs music, theater, and comic books to revolutionize how Native people are shown in the media. She uses her platform as an award-winning artist to show a humorous and human side of Native America, defeating stereotypes that have echoed for far too long.

Jamie Okuma of the Luiseño has been making extraordinary clothes, beaded regalia, and eye-popping designs for over two decades. Her award-winning works of wearable art are rewriting the story of Native representation. She’s been a driving force for making Native fashion a global phenomenon, from New York’s MET to the pages of Vogue.

Representation, family, and connections to their roots are woven into the stories of these four incredible women. They stand for the diversity and strength of Native women who are leading and inspiring every day in every corner of Indian Country. And they are just part of a wave of women tapping into the deep roots of Native traditions to make a transformative difference in the world today.