Bryan Pollard 8 connexions

I'm an editor and photographer living in Tahlequah, Okla., the capital of the Cherokee Nation. I'm lucky enough to be the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, the oldest Native newspaper and the first bilingual newspaper (Cherokee and English) in North America.

I was born in Oklahoma but my family moved to New Orleans when I was young so I grew up there. I graduated from LSU with a degree in anthropology and moved to Portland, Ore., to take a stab at being a professional photographer. I guess I pulled it off because I'm still doing it. Along the way I served short stints as a social worker, activist, bike messenger, photo lab technician and community organizer.

I turned to journalism after several unrewarding years as a commercial photographer, and as fate would have it, my activist nature and my journalism skills conspired to make me a founder of Street Roots, a newspaper dedicated to covering issues concerning homeless and low-income people. While at Street Roots, I helped start the Out of the Doorways campaign and eventually became a founding member of Dignity Village, one of the nation's first outdoor, green, self-governed communities for homeless people. I continue to volunteer in my community when I can, and I usually have my hands full juggling several projects/activities at once.

I'm currently in graduate school working on a masters in communications and am certified to teach high school journalism.

I serve on the board of directors for the North American Street Newspaper Association, and I'm a member of the Native American Journalists Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Journalism Education Association.