Danielle Fixico

Strive to Inspire

Inspiring others. That is what Danielle Fixico does. With Chickasaw, Muscogee Creek, and Choctaw heritage, Danielle is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. She is an artist, and she encourages people to tell their stories and reach for the stars. 

Danielle grew up on the Muscogee Creek reservation in Morris, Oklahoma. Now, she lives in Bixby, Oklahoma, and is a general education instructor at the College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN). As a young girl, Danielle was an ambitious student, graduating from CMN just a year after she graduated high school. Danielle continued her education while pursuing her passions, art and teaching others. She went to the University of Oklahoma and got her bachelors in Native American Studies and then pursued a Master’s degree in Fine Arts. Alongside education, Danielle participated in a Recruitment and Retention program for Chickasaw students. This program inspired her to pursue education and work with college students, which is exactly what she does now. 

Danielle worked to bridge the gap of cultural knowledge in her family and to remake connections that were lost throughout their history. As a young child, she pursued her heritage and culture and now she encourages other young Native students to do the same. She said, “Our history and our culture and our families and our languages are all within us and make us who we are as Native people.” Many people are united by their culture and heritage, and Danielle motivates young Native people to take it a step further to share their individual stories as well. “Every Native person has their own perspective and their own stories to tell. No one else can tell that story the way that you would,” Danielle said. She wants people to truly be themselves. 

In addition to inspiring young students, Danielle takes every opportunity she can to talk about the hard issues Native Americans face. She uses her artwork to advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), a movement that is overlooked around the world. Danielle learned about the issue one day when she saw a picture of a young girl that reminded her of herself. Two weeks later, she discovered that the young girl was dead. Danielle focused her next three years of work on MMIW and got to participate in a Center for Native American Youth fellowship called Remembering Our Sisters. There she networked with other young Native women who advocated for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People around the country. Everytime she presented her artwork, she got to advocate for MMIW. “You never know who is in the audience listening,” Danielle said. 

With this, Danielle inspires her students to “pursue their passions.” Once a young girl growing up on the reservation and sitting in those seats at the College of the Muscogee Nation, and now a young woman pursuing her dreams, Danielle was once in her students’ shoes. Danielle educates her students and proves that they can achieve their dreams, too. 

Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. No matter what it is. “We need Native people in that space,” Danielle finishes. “All of the heartache will be worth it.”