Raylen Bark

Raylen Bark (she/her) is Cherokee, Choctaw, Hualapai, and Hidatsa. She grew up in Cherokee, North Carolina, located in the Great Smoky Mountains where she was raised with a love for nature. Learning sustainable harvesting techniques of medicinal plants and foods, Raylen learned about traditional agriculture from her Grandpa Goodlow Bark. She graduated from Cherokee High School as the Valedictorian of the class of 2020. Raylen is a junior (or ‘24) at Dartmouth College majoring in Native American and Indigenous Studies modified with Linguistics. She has been involved with the Dartmouth Rockefeller Global Leadership Program, Natives at Dartmouth Program, and the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America as a scholar and mentor. After graduating from Dartmouth Raylen plans to attend law school so that she can assist her tribe in the legal and linguistic fields.

Indigenous plant sovereignty and Cherokee culture (2023 Planet Forward Storyfest Finalist in the Most Creative Category)