Sikowis Nobiss, BA, MA (she/her)

Sikowis Nobiss (she/her) is Plains Cree/Saulteaux of the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada and grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. At 19 she began her life's work of uplifting Indigenous rights and voices when she got her first job at the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council in Fredericton, Canada during the Burnt Church Rebellion. In 2016 she joined the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline and continued to build afterwards across Iowa. This led her to co-found Little Creek Camp in February 2017, which transformed into Indigenous Iowa (later renamed Great Plains Action Society). From 2017 to 2020, she helped found a national Indigenous-focused organization from the ground up. As her heart is with her people and the prairies, Sikowis is now full time with Great Plains Action Society where she works at a grassroots level and with an Indigenous-led organization.
 

Sikowis has a Masters Degree in Religious Studies and Graduate Minor in Native Studies from the University of Iowa. While attending the U of I from 2005-2008, she sat on many diversity and climate committees and was also the Chair of the U of I Native American Student Association. Currently, she sits on the Midwest Environmental Justice Grant Advisory Committee, the Centering Equity in the Sustainable Building Sector Governance Team, and the Save our Future Foundation’s Reparative Land Collective Advisory Board. Sikowis was also a commissioner on the Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2021-2024 and part of the Microsoft Just Transition Power Force from 2022-2023 as a guest expert working to reduce harmful practices in corporate procurement processes. Her work has been uplifted in several publications such as The Social Movement Archive, Yes! Magazine (2017), and (Re)present: Racism and Resistance In Iowa. Bustle.com and Reckon.new have also featured columns written by Sikowis. 

 

In 2021 Sikowis received the Impact Through Advocacy award from the Iowa Environmental Council. In June 2022, her dedication to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community earned GPAS the OneIowa Community Partnership Award. In March 2023, her work earned Great Plains Action Society recognition for being a women-led organization doing excellent work in the realm of sustainability from the Johnson County United Nations Association Chapter. In 2024, she was awarded an Environmental Leader Award from the Center for Rural Affairs. In 2025, Sikowis received one of the Iowa Environmental Council’s 2025 Champions of the Environment Award. 

 

Sikowis is also a speaker, writer, and artist. She believes that environmental and social justice work are inextricably linked and change will only happen when we dismantle corrupt colonial-capitalist systems, ReMatriate and build from an Indigenous worldview. Everything she does is with her two children in mind.