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Aleesha Towns-Bain, Ph.D. is a 2026 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

aleesha towns-bain committee

Aleesha Towns-Bain at her Dissertation Defense.

From L-R: Dr. Yulia Tolstikov-Mast, Committee Chair, Dr. Maria Shaa Tlaa Williams, Committee Member, Dr. Woden Teachout, Committee Member.

Dissertation Committee

  • Yulia Tolstikov-Mast, PhD, Committee Chair
  • Woden Teachout, PhD, Committee Member
  • Maria Shaa Tlaa, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

Alaska Native women, Indigenous leadership. relational leadership, Participatory Narrative Inquiry, Indigenous methodologies, intersectionality

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

Alaska Native women have long supported their families, Tribes, and communities through leadership that is relational, adaptive, and rooted in Indigenous cultural values. In recent years, Alaska Native women have assumed significant leadership roles within a diverse range of Western sectors—including government, business, higher education, and nonprofits—while maintaining roles as critical culture holders and community builders. Despite their contributions, the leadership experiences of these women are poorly understood in both leadership practice and scholarship. The purpose of this research project was to explore how Alaska Native women make meaning of their leadership experiences through Indigenous relational values and at the intersections of their gender and Native identities. Guided by Indigenous methodologies, this research project employed Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) to cocreate knowledge through storywork and collective sensemaking with Alaska Native women leaders. Findings revealed themes of relational leadership shaped by grandmothers, mothers, aunties, and mentors; significant intersectional experiences that leaders navigate across personal, cultural, and organizational environments; and adaptive approaches to contemporary leadership challenges. The findings informed a new synthesized theoretical framework, Weaving Leadership, which conceptualizes Alaska Native women’s leadership as relational, intersectional, and adaptive across life experiences and leadership contexts. This research contributes to leadership scholarship by centering Alaska Native women’s lived experiences and offering a relational framework that expands understandings of leadership beyond existing Western models. The findings also provide insights relevant to Indigenous leadership development and the experiences of Indigenous women leaders worldwide. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

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aleesha towns-bain

Aleesha Towns-Bain

ORCID Id:  #0009-0004-9517-3429

Dr. Aleesha Ikayuq Towns-Bain is a scholar-practitioner, writer, and nonprofit executive whose work is grounded in service to community. Raised in Seattle with ancestral roots in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, she has built a career spanning journalism, philanthropy, and nonprofit leadership.

For more than two decades, Dr. Towns-Bain has worked across the nonprofit, philanthropic, and journalism sectors, advancing educational opportunity, organizational development, and community-driven initiatives that support Alaska Native communities. Her professional work has focused on strengthening pathways for students, supporting the vitality of Yup'ik, Dena’ina, and Alutiiq cultures and languages, and fostering partnerships that contribute to long-term community wellbeing and self-determination.

Dr. Towns-Bain's scholarship examines the experiences of Alaska Native women leaders and the ways Indigenous values, relationships, and responsibilities shape leadership practice. Guided by Indigenous methodologies, Participatory Narrative Inquiry, and Indigenous relationality, her doctoral research centers the stories of Alaska Native women leaders and explores how they make meaning of leadership at the intersection of their Indigenous and gender identities. Her research is among the first studies in leadership scholarship to explicitly center the experiences of Alaska Native women leaders, contributing a culturally grounded framework for understanding leadership as relational, adaptive, and rooted in responsibility to others.

She earned a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University Graduate School of Leadership and Change, a Master of Arts in Journalism from University of Missouri School of Journalism, and a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College. She also completed executive education at Harvard Business School focused on leadership, philanthropy, and community investment. Dr. Towns-Bain is a Tribal member of Native Village of Pilot Point.

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