As a Community Development Specialist for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Emerald Edge Program, Crystal Yankawgé Nelson focuses on sustainable economies, ecological stewardship capacity, and healing and racial equity for Indigenous and local communities in Southeast Alaska. She is Tlingit, Raven-Coho from the Humpback Whale House in Dry Bay, and she grew up in Juneau, Alaska. Crystal is currently completing her Master of Arts in Rural Development at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and spent six years as an apprentice Chilkat weaver with the late Tlingit master weaver Clarissa Rizal.
