Our Board of Directors
Bryan Deans
OLCERI Is headed by Bryan Deans, an Oglala Lakota tribal member and co-founder of OLCERI. He is a long experienced permaculture designer / teacher, former US Army Ranger, former West Point instructor with long experience in emergency management, and community and nation building. He understands the difficulties of working against systemic forces.
Over the years he has built and trained an extensive network of builders and growers (both tribal and non-tribal) who can be drawn upon to complete the construction and operate the facilities. He has envisioned, designed, and built all of the infrastructure and programs on the OLCERI homestead. Including: a wind and solar clean energy system, a farmer Rancher educational program for local people, a wild horse rescue program, biodiesel production, a sawmill for local lumber, and a community garden that currently produces hundreds of pounds of food.
The latest projects are an Earthship style rammed Earth Tire building that will house the Indigenous Wisdom Center, a Lakota Language school and Cultural preservation center, and in collaboration with other groups across the reservation, a food distribution network to supply fresh foods to people throughout Pine Ridge.
Rhea D. Mora
Rhea is retired and currently manages a small ranch where she cares for horses and rescue dogs. She also serves as an animal caretaker for the OLCERI ranch. For over four decades she has been a practitioner and teacher of Blossom Fist, also known as Fa Ch'uan, a form of martial arts that emphasizes self-defense and personal growth. Growing up in Slim Buttes, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, has given her a deep understanding of her community and the daily struggles they face.
Vanessa Bolin
Vanessa Bolin is an Indigenous farmer, artist, activist, teacher, and founder of the Eyes Wide Open Project, Richmond Indigenous Society, and Community Roots Garden. She sits on the boards of the Oglala Lakota Cultural Economic Initiative (OLCERI) and Mutual Aid Disaster Relief National.
Vanessa completed her Paramedic Medicine studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She worked as a medic during the NoDAPL movement in Standing Rock, ND, and also provided aid and care to flood survivors in Houston after Hurricane Harvey. Vanessa established a Mutual Aid Disaster Relief warehouse in Robeson County following Hurricane Florence, and has conducted medic training in various countries.
Vanessa has recently returned from the Ukraine where she helped provide medical care to refugees. She spends her time in her community building and supporting grassroots organizations and provides training in marginalized communities to educate on topics such as food sovereignty, decolonized and integrated medicine, transformative justice, and environmental racism. She helps raise awareness about murdered and missing Indigenous Women, among other topics. Believing that it is everyone’s responsibility to defend this sacred earth, she sets out each day to make the world a better place and is striving to help build the world we all want to live in.
ESTELLA L.G. VALLÈS, PH. D.
Vallès currently teaches political science. She holds master’s degrees in public administration/political science and education, with specialization in teaching reading (English), and a Ph D. in Teaching, Learning, and Culture with specializations in biliteracy and socio-cultural foundations. In addition, she holds certificates in Women and Gender Studies, Grant Writing, Archiving, and Conflict Mediation. She has received additional training and a certificate in Equity.
Vallès, who is of Mexica ancestry, is fully committed to the cause of Indigenous and environmental justice because of her collaboration with the Oglala Lakota Cultural and Economic Revitalization Initiative. Other personal and academic interests center on the American institutionalization of law and policy and how it has been applied to Native Americans, specifically.
A follower of the Lakota ways and a firm believer in the preservation of the planet, Vallès aspires to expand her career interests further by focusing on the promotion of renewable energies in her continued work with OLCERI, with a main goal of someday having solar panels on every home on the Rez, along with eco-friendly, nutritious, personal gardens; clean air and water; and free-range farm animals in every “backyard.” No doubt, this will be a lifetime endeavor; still, with her fellow OLCERI activists, she expects that their diligent work will, in the end, bear good fruit.