Heather George plans to build on the legacies of those who came before her, as she steps into the role of executive director at Woodland Cultural Centre in Six Nation’s Territory near Brantford Ontario.

“I’m really lucky to have a lot of champions throughout the museum and heritage sector who just keep saying that they believe in me, which some days is uplifting and some days feels like extra pressure,” she says with a laugh. “But most of the time it’s very uplifting.”

The 38-year-old scholar of Kanien’kehá:ka and Euro-Canadian descent already has a laundry list of tasks ahead of her — renovation work, new interpretive projects and gallery updates — but is most excited about cultural reclamation and strengthening the centre’s language programming.

She plans to expand Woodland’s language department and make Hodinohsho:ni lan