TASHA ELIZARDE (SHE/HER)
Co-founder of Mana Alaska, a media collective; executive producer of Mga Kuwento, an oral history project
Juneau, Alaska
Filipinos have been in Alaska for 236 years. I grew up in Juneau, and it wasn’t until I learned about our history that I understood my connection to Alaska. We are the state’s largest immigrant minority, but there are few records for us to learn from. It’s an uphill battle, trying to share our community’s stories the way we feel is right. Sometimes the institutions we work with don’t understand what we’re trying to do. They push back. But we choose to do things our way: We spend hours engaging with people; we eat with our interviewees and show up for their birthdays. What makes everything worth the challenges is knowing that our stories — our history — are out there for our future generations. I get to pass on what I’ve learned from our elders: It’s our stories that ground us to home, and it’s our stories that bind us to each other.
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This article appeared in the June 2024 print edition of the magazine with the headline “#IAMTHEWEST.”
