Takayla Lightfield

Takayla Lightfield (she/her) is Mnicoujou Lakota and an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of
South Dakota. Currently, she is a Perinatal Program Consultant on the Population Health Innovation team at
Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). Her main role is co-managing the Integrated Care for High-Risk
Pregnancies (ICHRP) grant program. She is also supporting the creation of the Building Racial Equity into the
Walls of Medicaid (BREW) for American Indians report and a part of the DHS Healthcare Administration Equity
Committee, Birthing Person Health Workgroup, Indigenous Milk is Medicine Collective, and co-leader of the
Indigenous Breastfeeding Coalition of Minnesota. Takayla holds a Certificate of American Indian Public Health
from Johns Hopkins. She also received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota Morris and
majored in Psychology, Human Services, and American Indian Studies. Over the last decade Takayla has worked
on various maternal child health issues in the American Indian community such as access to Medicaid, SNAP, &
TANF benefits, mental health resources for children, Indigenous food access and nutrition education for families,
doula care, perinatal education, and lactation advocacy, education, and support. She is currently an active labor
and birth doula and Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor.