Speaking Engagements & Conferences

Tansi nitotemak! nanaskamon kakiyaw. 

Hello my Friends! I am thankful for all of you! Here is a bit about me and what I do at speaking events.

LILI's Emcee & Speaking Bio: 

LILI is a Cree woman from Sturgeon Lake First Nation. An avid singer and songwriter, she began writing at 12 years old often using journalling and guitar playing as her only emotional outlet. Lily experienced a turbulent childhood, moving from place to place, living in extreme poverty and experiencing all levels of abuse and neglect, until she was sent to live with her mother Violet Naytowhow, who is also an amazing singer and songwriter. Violet put LILI on stage at 17 and she played in dozens of shows as a back up singer for Violets debut album (Wind of the North) and was a happy roady for her momma. They even did a grassroots special on CBC and  provided songwriting workshops to the youth in northern First Nations communities. She had major stage fright as a teenager and overcame her fears by joining a vocal intensive workshop in Banff , Alberta at the Center for the Arts which aimed to help Indigenous musicians perform. This program was taught by Micah Barnes (Singer, Neons) and Donita Large (Singer) which LILI thanks for helping her. 🥰 

She had to navigate the big city of Saskatoon and going to the University of Saskatchewan all on her own at 19 years old after graduating from Carlton Comprehensive High School in Prince Albert. She faced many challenges and a tragedy that ended her school career at 21 years old. She moved to the lake and lived there for several years working as a server at different establishments and doing the odd gig when she could racking up a good amount of live performances all over saskatchewan, alberta and B.C as a independent solo folk singer with nothing recorded. At 28 years old she decided it was time to try persuing a career in college again, she paid off her student debts, upgraded at night school and got back in to arts and science at the University of Saskatchewan and finished her Bachelors of Archaeology. 🎉 At this time she also joined the Community Arts Music Program (CAMP) to help with mentoring young First Nations musicians and became the president of the board for a year before focusing on her community.

LILI has made it through failure, has been resiliant through multiple tragedies, and is now focusing on sharing those hard lessons to the next generation so that they may learn from her mistakes and miss-steps. Lily now works in her community, Sturgeon Lake First Nation as a community research associate, creating a historical and archaeological archive for her nation with her team at Pewaseskwan (UofS) with the support of her Chief and Council. She also bacame a medicine picker under the guidance of Violet Naytowhow (MA Social work) and her supervisor, Willie Ermine (MA Education) in 2020 and is currently learning as their helper. Since working in the community she has become enriched with her culture and knowledgable with alternative health modalities. Much of her work is focused on being present, medicine teachings for First Nations, group sharing and finding purpose. There are glimmers which lead the way and I hope to help you see them. aho.

-LILI

Contact me at:  lillanohnamusic@gmail.com 

or on facebook @https://www.facebook.com/lina.stone1/  @Lily Naytowhow