Mae Peshlakai is Dine’; Tangle People Clan and born for the Deer Water Clan, Maternal grandfather Salt Clan and her paternal grandfather’s clan is the Rock Gap People Clan. As a child, she attended a U.S. Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs Boarding School in Tolani Lake, Arizona, 100 miles northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. She is a boarding school survivor. In 1965, after marrying her husband, James Peshlakai, an accomplished silver and goldsmith, she took up silversmithing and, to this day, makes jewelry every day as well as weave. She knows the issues and challenges of District 6 and has worked tirelessly for the communities of rural and tribal Northern Arizona. As a Precinct and State Committee Member of the Arizona Democratic Party, she has worked or volunteered on the majority of tribal, county, state and federal elections since 1974. She has traveled all of Arizona’s Legislative District 6 to register voters, collect signatures for candidate petitions, referendums, and educate constituents on the US census and the 2021 redistricting. Mae is committed to be the voice of the people of rural and tribal Arizona.
Mae Peshlakai
