Education:
Pursuing bachelor's degree in journalism and public communications, University of Alaska Anchorage

Trina Landlord has become a leading advocate for Alaska Native youth issues. But it took her leaving her home and culture to find that path.

In the early 1990s, Landlord left her home in Mountain Village to live with her father, who was attending law school on the East Coast.

"That definitely allowed me to see this world beyond Alaska," she said. "I always had a desire to travel, and that allowed me at a young age to get out of my comfort zone, to see a different culture."

It also introduced her to an ability to educate others about her culture. "I was probably the only Inuit they had ever met," she said. "I needed to represent my culture well."

Returning home in 1996, Landlord took a college course on Natives of Alaska. There she saw photos of her ancestors protesting the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. From there, she dove headlong into representing the ways of Alaska Natives.

Landlord has worked as a youth coordinator for the Alaska Federation of Natives. She served as a youth delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York and the Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva, Switzerland.

That work earned her a fellowship on the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, again in Geneva.

"After being away from home for a few years, I came back and jumped into everything I could - arts, dancing and political issues," she said. "I hope something I do or an action I take will at least leave a scene in someone's head that they can pass on to others."

Hometown: Mountain Village

One place in the world you would visit: Machu Picchu, Peru

Favorite place in Alaska: Mountain Village

If you could trade jobs with anyone, who would it be: Sen. Hillary Clinton

One word that describes you: Ambitious