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Meet
The Directors
Dana Bachiochi
Due to his stroke
Dana has been on a medical leave from Eagle Spirit
Studies.
We look forward to his
complete recovery and return to the board of
directors.
Gibby Paixao
A Hungarian born Native has spent
28 years traveling the United States. For the past 15 years she has been
working primarily with special need students in the public
school system . Her area of specialty is working hand in hand with
the emotional and behavioral needs of these students. She has also
been involved with the Girl Scouts for the past 25 years from troop
leader to Assistant Camp Director. Gibby has created programs for
youth groups and has used her talents in Arts and Outdoor Skills
while working with children and adults. She is a member of The
Lions International .She has been traveling to Alaska for the past 5
years and has seen and learned a great deal. Gibby is looking forward to sharing
her creative talents with everyone.
Donald
Blackfox
Born of Mi'kmaq & Cree heritage in 1945
Donald has spent much of his life learning
and teaching the ways and traditions of the indigenous people of
North America.
After leaving
school at age fifteen he began traveling the country
with his band "Creation" Spending some years traveling
with and working with many of the stars of the 60's, 70's and early
80's.
He spent time on Pine Ridge and Rosebud
Reservations. During the early 70's he learned the ways
and traditions of the Lakota people.
Getting clean and sober
in 1984 turned his life around. He
traveled with his adopted grandfather Joseph Eagle Hawk
learning all he could of native spirituality.
At age 48 he studied for and received
his GED. Upon entering college in
Boston
he earned 2 Associates Degrees, one in Drug and
Alcohol Counseling and one in Human Resources.
Donald is the founder of Native Pride
Foundation, an organization committed to helping those young
ones who are having problems with drugs and alcohol, and those who
are under pressure because of the lack of understanding, that
society places upon then.
His work with the
foundation also includes counseling in all areas of abuse.
He owned and operated Tribal Winds Native
American Art and Crafts (A retail gift shop) from 1996
through 2002.
During this time period he
decided to shift his focus to work in the field of
his passion, music.
He founded
RavenHawk Productions and Spirit Wind
Records.
He also took his drum group
The Thunder Hawk Singers to a Native American Music Award nomination
in 2001.
In 2002 he was Program Director for
NativeRadio.com.
Today he resides in Central NY where he continues to work in the field of his passion
Philip "Two Trees" Crosby
Service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in
Chile (1966-1967) gave him an appreciation for
seeing the world through
the eyes of a different culture, i.e.:
learning what it means to "walk in the other mans moccasins".
With a Bachelor of Science degree
in Metallurgical Engineering and a Masters degree in Business
Administration, he
worked for a number of small start-up
businesses including his own as founder and President of Powerflex,
Inc. (1976-1979).
He then worked in
the jet engine business in Quality Control and Engineering positions
at G E Aircraft Engines until his
early retirement in 2003.
His interest in Native American
culture and spirituality led him, in 1993, to join a traditional
native drum group (drumming
and singing Mi'kmaq songs in the
Mi'kmaq language). It was that experience that led to a close
and enduring friendship with
Donald Blackfox. "When you
sit next to someone on a pow-wow drum every Tuesday night for a
couple of years, there isn't
much that you don't know
about each other."
That friendship
led to the formation of the drum group, The Thunder Hawk Singers,
which received a Native American Music
Award nomination in 2001.
He is a charter and sustaining
member of both the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and the (Smithsonian)
National Museum of the American Indian.
He continues to reside in
Salem, Massachusetts where he has lived for the last twenty five
years.
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