Staff Biography
Kim Mettler
Tribal STAR Program Manager
kmettler@sdsu.edu
(619) 594-3217
Dush gah shah, Dosha, Geed and Hello! My people on my Mom’s side are Ukrainian Jew and Czech, and my people on my Dad’s side are German and Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. I am a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (Nueta, Hidatsa and Sahnish). I have been with Tribal STAR since 2015; I am the Program Manager.
Tribal STAR’s work is to change peoples’ hearts so they can change their minds. To change hearts requires tenacity, patience, and compassion. My work seems to have me situated in important and often difficult conversations about history, historical trauma, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. To change peoples’ hearts means that I need to give them information and help them learn things that are not easy to hear and often activate big emotions and unresolved trauma. That means that I often have to experience and manage my own emotions and unresolved trauma. This work has changed me– it has softened some jagged edges and sharpened others (the ones for fierce advocacy). It has made me more compassionate and gracious with others (and myself) and has made me more patient. More importantly, this work has changed my heart by helping me feel deeper compassion and understanding for the hardships of my parents, grandparents, and all my relations before them, and greater respect and awe for the tenacity and resilience they displayed in the face of them. My work with Tribal STAR has been medicine for me and for my ancestors.