ABSTRACT With the exception of summer trips to visit my grandparents, I spent most of my growing-up years 150 miles away from my tribe, the Penobscot Indian Nation on Indian Island, Maine. I obtained a bachelor’s degree in earth science at the University of Southern Maine and spent three years in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I landed a summer job on a gold project crew with Mobil Minerals Division as I was finishing up my M.S. in economic geology. In 1980, the Penobscot Nation, together with the Passamaquoddy Tribe, regained 300,000 acres in what, at the time, was the largest land claim settlement in U.S. history, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act. In 1984, I went to work for my tribe on the minerals assessment program. The fieldwork encompassed extensive soil surveys, geophysical surveys, and bedrock drilling. About a decade into my work for the tribe, my career began to change as the funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs ended and the minerals assessment on the trust lands was wrapping up. In 1993, I co-founded and headed the Indigenous arts, non-profit Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA). This work would become my most rewarding and meaningful as it had a deep relationship to my own values system. In addition, I had become a serious basket maker and relied upon a network of other Indigenous practitioners. My evolution from a practicing geologist to an award-winning artist and Native American arts leader and advocate speaks to having a strong sense of identity and belief in myself. Throughout my career, I learned to observe my environment and listen to advice, but ultimately charted my own course.