Bobbi Frederick

Bobbi Lynn Frederick was raised in the Turtle Mountains by her late father Robert J. Frederick her mother Arlene Frederick. Her late father is a member of the Turtle Mountain Tribe and her mother comes from the Hopi Nation. Her paternal grandparents are the late Robert W. and Stella Frederick who were both Turtle Mountain members. Her maternal grandparents are the late Donald and Marion Keevama who were both citizens of the Hopi Nation. Bobbi comes from the Hunkpati Dakota also known as the Crow Creek Sioux Nation of Fort Thompson, South Dakota. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada attending powwows as a fancy shawl dancer. Through this journey, she has learned how to bead and how to sew, making dance outfits for herself and others. She also had the opportunity to create fashionable wear for men and women including dresses, shirts, and jewelry that were entered into fashion shows. Throughout her time in the powwow community she had opportunities to serve as head lady dancer for various Indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. She has also served as Head Lady Dance Judge for powwows such as United Tribes Powwow 2018, University of Minnesota-Morris 2018, American Indian Health and Research Education Alliance (AIRHEA) 2015, and her home community at Crow Creek for the Hunkpati Dakota Oyate Wacipi 2015-2018.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, she worked as a Residential Supervisor Specialist in Lawrence, Kansas at Cottonwood Inc. where she served as a guide to individuals with developmental disabilities. She also worked at Lawrence Community (homeless) Shelter, as the housing coordinator under the AmeriCorps program. In 2017 she moved back to the Turtle Mountains and became a member of the Dakota Ojibwe Dance Troupe where she traveled and danced along with other performers to schools and universities in the Minnesota and North and South Dakota region. She along with the other performers provided powwow demonstration and entertainment as a tool to educate students and other educators on the subject of Indigenous people in America and Canada, specifically Ojibwe and Dakota people. She began working at TMCC in January 2018 as an adjunct Beadwork Instructor for both spring and summer terms. During that time Bobbi became involved in the Turtle Mountain Tribal Nations Research Group Annual Conference in which she spoke to the community about her life as a dancer and artist. In the fall of 2018 she began working as the full time Art Instructor at TMCC where she teaches the traditional arts of Anishinabe using concepts and knowledge she has learned on her travels, training and education as well as the values and teachings she learned from the powwow community. She carries her parents and grandparent’s knowledge and skills with a high morality of her Indigenous ancestors and hopes to inspire students with the knowledge and values that were bestowed upon her. She will continue to teach students the skills she has acquired throughout her life as a powwow dancer, student, educator, seamstress, beader and designer as well as a daughter, a sister, and as an Indigenous woman.