17 Apr 2026
Roots of the Work: The Proven Sustainable™ Guiding Council on Place, Memory & What It Means to Live Free
In this special gathering, the five members of the Proven Sustainable™ Guiding Council turn the conversation inward, reflecting on the journeys that brought each of them to this work, and sitting together with a single question: Where is Proven Sustainable living in each of us today?
Sox Sperry, educator, curriculum designer, and founder of Proven Sustainable™, opens from Ithaca, New York, on the traditional homeland of the Gayogohono (Cayuga) people. He traces the project's origins through decades of relationships with Indigenous and Maroon elders across the planet, and shares how the work now lives in developing curriculum materials for young students rooted in Indigenous worldview, such as two recent lessons developed, anchored by the children's book by Yurok scientist and activist Brook Thompson.
Four Arrows (Donald Trent Jacobs) shares how he found Proven Sustainable through a Google search and why a teaching from the Chukchi people, about the difference between pursuing gold and tending reindeer, stopped him in his tracks. A scholar of Indigenous worldview for over 40 years, he speaks to the critical distinction between worldview and place-based tribal wisdom, and why preserving the latter is among the most urgent tasks of our time.
Ketu Oladuwa, poet and journalist from Fort Wayne, Indiana, speaks with the voice of the griot, connecting Maroon Mindset to more than 7,000 years of Afrikan resistance, from the Nile Valley to death row to the elders councils and young people he serves today. For Ketu, proven sustainable and proven free are not ideas but a breath, a spiritual principle he has lived without always having the language for it.
Kelsey Greene, co-facilitator of the Proven Sustainable™ Conversation Series and now based in St. Petersburg, Florida, reflects on how the work has become what she calls "a whispering elder" in her inner life, a steady presence that helps her recognize colonized thinking, practice self-compassion, and return to the wisdom of body, place, and community.
Nichole McIntosh, senior nurse and workforce educator with NHS England and a descendant of Maroons from Jamaica, shares how an unexpected letter in 2021 drew her into this work, and how five years later she brings Proven Sustainable's principles into her leadership talks with student nurses and midwives in London, giving others permission to claim their Maroon heritage with pride.
Together, they offer a rare and intimate window into the people behind this work, why they came to it, and how it continues to sustain them.
SPEAKER BIOS:
Sox Sperry is an educator, curriculum designer, and the founder of Proven Sustainable™, based in Ithaca, New York, on the traditional homeland of the Gayogohono (Cayuga) people, part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. His work with Project Look Sharp and long-standing relationships with Indigenous and Maroon communities worldwide form the foundation of the Proven Sustainable project.
Four Arrows (Donald Trent Jacobs) is a scholar of Indigenous worldview with over 40 years of work in Indigenous education. He is an Oglala Lakota Pipe Carrier and formerly Director of Education at Oglala Lakota College. He spends summers on Nuu-chah-nulth land on the Toquat land on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and lives in Mexico for the rest of the year.
Ketu Oladuwa is a poet, journalist, and community voice based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, holding lineages from the Akan people of Ghana and the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He brings griot tradition and Maroon Mindset to his work with elders, young people, and community.
Kelsey Greene is a core team member and co-facilitator of the Proven Sustainable™ Conversation Series, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the unceded homelands of the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes.
Nichole McIntosh is a senior nurse and workforce educator with NHS England, a Jamaican immigrant living in the East of England, and a descendant of Maroons from Jamaica. She has been part of the Proven Sus
