The Montana Media Lab’s Youth Voices Program empowers young people in rural and Indigenous communities by teaching them to tell their own journalistic stories. Our programs position teens as experts in creating journalism about their home communities. It builds media literacy throughout a community, and it gives students new skills and experiences that can help them thrive in their education and their careers.
The Youth Voices Advisory board is a panel of Indigenous media experts and community leaders who will advise Youth Voices staff on programming, serve as career mentors, and be a trusted bridge to partner communities.
Luella Brien
As a journalist Luella Brien, the founder of Four Points Media, is able to share the triumphs and tragedies of her people, which she feels is the natural evolution of the Native storytelling tradition. She also believes strongly in serving her community. Has worked as a media consultant with the tribe, a communication arts instructor at Little Big Horn College, and an outreach coordinator. Brien’s Apsáalooke name is Akbaaítchesh, or One Who Keeps Things Good. Her name was given to her by her maternal grandfather Benjamin Big Man Sr., as a tribute to his own mother. She is the descendant of powerful healers, educators, and leaders and most importantly storytellers. She is a 2006 graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism. She is a 2002 graduate of the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute and a 2004 Chips Quinn Scholar, and a 2024 Maynard 2024 Fellow.
Jarrette Werk
Jarrette Werk, whose traditional name is θeih naakyaa , is an award-winning Indigenous journalist and photographer. His work centers Indigenous sovereignty, memory, and contemporary life with care, proximity, and accountability. A citizen of the Aaniiih and Nakoda Nations of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, he is a multimedia journalist formerly with Underscore Native News and an alum of the Report for America Corps.
Werk holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism. His work spans audio, documentary film, and written and visual reporting, including roles as associate producer for Nevada Public Radio’s Native Nevada Podcast and the award-winning documentary “Remaining Native.” A four-time Indigenous Journalism Fellow, Werk now mentors emerging Indigenous storytellers. His reporting has earned a national Hearst Journalism Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and multiple additional honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, Indigenous Media Awards and more.
Lailani Upham
Oki! I’m Lailani Upham a Blackfeet storyteller, journalist, documentary filmmaker, photographer, tourism strategist, and founder of Iron Shield Creative. Raised on the Blackfeet Nation with family roots extending across the Northern Plains, I have spent my life exploring the relationship between people, place, and story.
With a background in journalism, documentary filmmaking, Indigenous tourism, conservation, and destination stewardship, I partner with Tribal Nations, tourism organizations, conservation groups, and communities to create meaningful experiences that honor both people and the landscapes they call home.
Through Iron Shield Creative, I lead guided storytelling hikes throughout Glacier National Park’s East Side and Blackfeet Country, and public lands across Montana, where visitors discover breathtaking landscapes, wildlife, history, and the living stories that continue to shape our homeland. My work also includes consulting, public speaking, photography, documentary production, and land-based learning that inspires deeper connections to the natural world. I serve as Executive Director of the Montana Indigenous Tourism Alliance and Program Manager for the Montana Indigenous Tourism Trail Project, where I work alongside Tribal communities to strengthen Indigenous tourism, destination stewardship, and community-led visitor experiences across Montana.
Jason Begay
Jason Begay grew up on the Navajo Nation. He got his first job as a reporter at 18 and, except for one year in which he delivered pizza, he’s worked in journalism ever since. He is an alum of the School of Journalism and, while in school, he wrote for the Native News project, one of the classes he now teaches. He has worked as a reporter for the New York Times, Portland’s Oregonian and The Navajo Times.
Taiylr Irvine
Tailyr Irvine is a Salish and Kootenai journalist born and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Her work focuses on providing in-depth representations of the lives and complex issues within the communities that make up Native America.Tailyr is a co-founder of Indigenous Photograph, a global database dedicated to support the media industry in hiring more Indigenous photographers to tell the stories of their communities and to reflect on how we tell these stories. Tailyr has received multiple grants from the National Geographic Society, the 2023 Inaugural Vital Impacts Grant and 2025 Working Assumptions Grant. Her work is featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, the Washington Post, New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian and more.