Jasilyn Charger

Jasilyn Charger

Jasilyn Charger is a Land Defender and community organizer youth advocate for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. She is 23 years old and has been on the frontlines for six years battling pipelines, protecting and advocating for Native American and LGBTQ rights. Currently she is supporting a local movement for MMIW with the Women Warriors Society opposing the construction of the KXL pipeline. Jasilyn is the co-founder of the International Indigenous Youth Council, The One Mind Movement, and 7th Defenders, a grass roots group that serves disadvantaged youth and young adults on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Jasilyn Charger was one of the few youth who ignited the Standing Rock Pipeline Resistance Movement.

Inspiration can find us at any moment. That’s what happened to Jasilyn Charger, a young Lakota woman suffering through multiple family tragedies and dealing with substance abuse issues. Her brother’s words of encouragement broke through her malaise and she “woke up,” becoming the cofounder of the International Indigenous Youth Council and rallying youth to support the resistance of Standing Rock during the Dakota Access Pipeline protest. “There was a moment when I faced my dragon, and I won,” she says in the beautiful short film “Jasilyn: Activist of the Land” by Lina Plioplyte.

“Jasilyn: Activist of the Land” is part of our #IShapeMyWorld film series, launched in the collaboration with Girlgaze, an L.A.-based company that is determined to close the gender gap by creating opportunities for its global community of creators.


This 21-year-old Native American activist got the nation to care about Standing Rock — and she's just getting started


At the height of the controversy surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline, protests drew crowds of 10,000. But before reporters, celebrities, and police descended on Standing Rock in North Dakota, it was 21-year-old Jasilyn Charger who said enough was enough. Determined to protect her people’s water, she formed the International Indigenous Youth Council and helped to coordinate a 2,000-mile run from North Dakota to Washington. In doing so, she galvanized an entire nation, and proved that Generation Z is a force to be reckoned with.