Kelsey Ciugun Wallace, Empowering Our Shareholders
Storyknife, May/June 2026 edition
Kelsey Ciugun Wallace, President & CEO at Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) and Calista Shareholder from Bethel, continues to lead a community response effort to provide for fellow Shareholders in need in the aftermath of Typhoon Halong.
TYPHOON HALONG RESPONSE
Wallace and ANHC worked quickly after Typhoon Halong hit many Calista communities in western Alaska last year. Her organization supported displaced families sent to Anchorage. For people looking to donate traditional foods, the Heritage Center continues to take in, coordinate and distribute traditional foods for families affected by Typhoon Halong. Wallace says it started from a meal with her kids.
“I told my daughter about the families in the shelter, and as we were eating moose soup at home, she said, ‘Are they not able to have our foods?’ To her, our foods are moose meat, seal oil and fish—foods from subsistence,” Wallace says. “That sparked a deeper conversation, and the next thing I knew, I was calling my colleague to find a big freezer. That started the ongoing traditional foods donation drive.”
Wallace says traditional foods were flown in and donated from every region of the state.
“We had one ton of muktuk and different types of foods from the North Slope. We had herring eggs, fish and seal from Southeast, and we had fish from the Interior, even when they’re not able to fish,” Wallace says. “We also had fish and berries donated from our home Region.”
The Heritage Center delivered family packs of food to families in the hotels and shelters and later when they moved into apartments. A family pack of donated food typically had a few fish fillets, berries and muktuk to give families a taste of home, Wallace says.
In addition to traditional food donations, the Heritage Center advocated for family resources, and even established an after-school program set to run until December 2027, at least, for students from western Alaska and other Alaska Native students, Wallace says.
After Typhoon Halong, the Heritage Center set up community events for families, like Halloween trick-or-treating at the center, a large Operation Santa Christmas event, Yugtun-to-English translators, and even cultural programming in the shelters early on, with a donation of nearly $25,000 worth of shoes to families when they first arrived in Anchorage.
“In light of the disaster, this experience reaffirmed for us that our organization, as a living cultural center, plays a critical role in what disaster response can look like, in providing cultural stability, connection to community and good care,” Wallace says.
BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION
Wallace began at the Heritage Center as an intern and has worked her way through every level of management. She was hired as President & CEO in September 2025.
Wallace graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a bachelor’s in Rural Development with a concentration in Indigenous Organizational Management and a Yugtun language minor.
“My education at Ayaprun Elitnaurvik K through six really laid the foundation for who I wanted to become,” Wallace says. “It gave me a lot of life skills and a great community of people who invested in me and so many others.”
Early in her career, Wallace interned at Calista Corporation, Brice Construction, and with Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office, among others, she says. In addition to internships, Wallace received Calista scholarships to help her pursue her undergraduate degree, she says.
“The Calista [Education and Culture] scholarship support made a difference,” Wallace says. “The scholarship lifted the weight of worrying how I’d be able to pay for school while pursuing higher education.”
In light of the disaster, this experience reaffirmed for us that our organization, as a living cultural center, plays a critical role in what disaster response can look like, in providing cultural stability, connection to community and good care.
Kelsey Ciugun Wallace, Calista Shareholder from Bethel
Wallace grew up in Bethel and has village ties to Nunapitchuk on her mom’s side. Wallace was always connected through strong family ties, supporting, helping and visiting with aunties, uncles and family every weekend growing up. Being surrounded by strong family systems and strong cultural values, and showing up for one another, helped guide her future, Wallace says.
“My career has always centered on uplifting our people, strengthening our cultural identities and creating opportunities where our communities and people really feel seen, supported and connected,” Wallace says. “I really lead from that foundation of taking care of one another.”
As the head of the Heritage Center, Wallace’s educational background plays an important role today as it has throughout her life. She knew she wanted to earn a degree in Alaska, close to home, and with culture in mind, she says.
“When we combine Western education with our Indigenous knowledge systems, that’s when our people can thrive,” Wallace says. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other, we can value both.”