WHO WE ARE
Roanhorse Consulting (RCLLC) is an indigenous women-led think tank. RCLLC works with unheralded communities, businesses, organizations, and individuals to achieve and aspire their self-determination through forging communities of practice, strengthening indigenous evaluation methods, creating equity through entrepreneurship, and encouraging economic empowerment from within. RCLLC co-designs wealth and power building efforts that directly invest in our leaders, support meaningful data collection informed by indigenous research approaches, and helps build thoughtful community-led projects that enforce values that put people at the center.


Casey Kee Long, MPH, Research and Evaluation Manager, leads and supports projects with data-informed strategic planning and decision making. Prior to joining RCLLC, Casey was working with the National Indian Health Board on their oral health and tobacco cessation initiatives. Casey also worked to expand youth programming in various communities on the Navajo Nation with Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment and Wings of America. Casey has a Master’s degree in Public Health from Grand Canyon University and an undergraduate degree from Fort Lewis College. Casey is Diné from the Navajo Nation and resides in Gallup, NM.
Shawna Douma, Research and Evaluation Associate, provides support to key portfolio efforts, with particular focus on research, evaluation and data management to support data-informed strategic planning for project management decision making. Prior to joining RCLLC, Shawna was the youngest member of the Pueblo of Laguna COVID-19 Emergency Operation Center Command Staff serving her tribe as the Public Information Officer, effectively leading communications and COVID-19 vaccination efforts, achieving 85% vaccination rate. In this role she had to create new systems that did not exist, coordinating tribal, state and federal information and resources to the people of Laguna Pueblo, which continues to be utilized to date. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 15 years creating positive youth development programming and managing strategic community-led volunteer engagement projects for Indigenous youth and communities in the Southwest. Shawna received her Bachelor’s degree in American Indian Studies from Haskell Indian Nations University. She remains committed to obtaining a Master’s Degree in Public Health at the University of New Mexico. Shawna is a member of the Laguna, San Felipe, and Hopi Tewa Pueblos and currently resides in Albuquerque, NM with her three children.
Melissa Colbert-Taylor, Operations Specialist, provides executive leadership support, operations design and team management. Prior to joining Roanhorse Consulting, Melissa worked with small businesses and nonprofits with a focus on revenue growth and development. She is also a musician and spent many years performing in various rock and experimental bands in Chicago IL and Athens GA. She is looking forward to bringing her professional as well as lived experience as a Black woman into how we can restructure the way businesses and organizations operate with a focus on anti-racism, anti-colonialism, and complete liberation for the new majority.
Justine Correa, Sr. Capital Strategies Associate, supports the RCLLC team in building and defining processes that center people, relationships, and emergent thinking to help create new ideas for capital design and deployment. Justine previously worked at a not-for-profit Native Community Development Institution that focused on mortgage lending in New Mexico and Arizona tribal communities as the Operations Manager for three years and an additional three years assisting with financial education and Loan Officer duties. She has over ten years of experience working with tribal communities’ programs and efforts and continues to be involved in any way she can. Justine’s true passion is to empower tribal people and people of color and their communities by utilizing her cultural knowledge and professional experience. She is currently pursuing her degree at The University of New Mexico in Community Health Education with a minor in Psychology. Justine currently resides in the Laguna Pueblo with her two children. She has Acoma Pueblo, and Hopi roots and is also of Hispanic descent.
Elyse V. Dempsey, Capital Strategies Associate, supports the management and strategic planning of key portfolios, focusing on the growth of a community-led economy that centers self-determination, capital building, and creative resourcing. With a background in social justice design and training development, Elyse has worked in Indian Country for over 10 years in educational, non-profit, and government sectors seeking to build avenues for access that would ultimately improve the quality of life for individuals, communities, and nations. She earned her B.A. cum laude in American Studies from Macalester College. Elyse is Diné and resides on the lands of the Salt River Pima (Scottsdale, Arizona).
Matthew Frank, LMSW, MPH, Health and Wealth Intern, is assisting on health and economic research-focused projects that center on community voice and knowledge. Matthew has more than 10 years of experience in research translation for population health improvement and program development, implementation, and evaluation. Most of his work has been with American Indian/Alaska Native and Indigenous communities, and with LGBTQ+/two-spirit people. His areas of focus include community-based participatory research, community engagement and outreach, evaluation of programs and services, project management, mixed methodologies, grant development and administration, and organizational social work practice. He received an M.S.W. and M.P.H. at Washington University in St. Louis, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Welfare at the University of Washington. Matthew is Diné from the Navajo Nation and resides in Seattle, WA.