Cheryl Blie

Cheryl Blie is the Operations Director at Arizona State University's MIX Center. She develops, strategizes, and manages day to day operations of the department to ensure its achievement is consistent with the mission of ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. As a member of the Navajo Nation, Cheryl has over 20 years of experience working with Native American tribes, Tribal organizations, and Indigenous populations across the U.S. while being heavily involved in the empowerment of minority youth and community development. Cheryl fosters a nurtured environment where youth will have the support they need to reach their highest potential.  She has worked in leadership roles to promote holistic health with demographic-centric approaches in her dedication to promote wellbeing initiatives. Her background working in community-based agencies and ASU gives her a unique ability to understand how to develop partnerships between universities and the communities in which they serve. While much of her work has been in a director role, Cheryl has her own lived experience as a first-generation college student coming from the Navajo Nation. She brings a unique perspective of the challenges Indigenous and minority students face because she can draw from her involvement to inform leadership, program design, and service delivery.  

“Humankind has not woven the web of life; we are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” -Chief Seattle, 1854. 

“My grandchild, education is the ladder. Tell our people to take it”. -Hastiin Ch’ilhaajiin (Chief Manuelito)