Kari A.B. Chew is a Chickasaw citizen and postdoctoral fellow for the NeȾolṉew̱ “one mind, one people” Indigenous Language Research Partnership at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. She began learning Chikashshanompa' in 2008 as an intern for the Chickasaw Nation. She holds a degree in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in Chickasaw linguistics from UCLA and a doctorate in indigenous language education from the University of Arizona.