Annie started what would become NativeCelebs late 1996 on Geocities. By 1999 she moved to a paid host, and had to come up with a name for the site. She chose Native Celebs, which has since become synonymous with the content matter - Native American actors and entertainment.

In March 2009 she started the Facebook page with news that's now perhaps the most important "part" of the site. The move was prompted by changing internet trends, the desire to post breaking news quickly, and to allow Morten to post more often as well as eventually adding more editors.

Why start the site?

She originally started NativeCelebs as a one page list of names of Native American actors. She had created a website for a Native American actor/singer friend (Duane Loken), and realized nobody was likely to search for his name, since he'd been out of the limelight for years at that point. So the only way to get people to find him, was for them to find him for another reason. This strategy worked so well, the NativeCelebs website took on a life of its own, and she was soon totally immersed in running it, learning a lot about Native culture and internet communication in the process.

Annie is Norwegian. Contact: Facebook, Mail

Rob became an editor on the Facebook page December 16, 2009, and will also contribute here occasionally. He was already posting a lot of stuff on the Facebook page, so it made sense to ask him to do it officially. Rob is a freelance journalist and lives in Los Angeles. He is Anglo American and is very knowledgeable about Native stereotypes. Contact: Facebook, Mail

Current contributors (all members of our editor group):

Michelle R. Shining Elk. She's a publicist, manager and does casting. She was full admin of the NativeCelebs facebook page for probably about a year. She's still posting news on the page, but has stepped back from the responsibility of being admin. Michelle also challenges us about stuff we thought we knew. Her facebook profile is full - she's not able to add more people. But she has a news page (Turtle Island Voice) where she posts stuff people send to her (wider focus than NativeCelebs), so you can interact with her there as well.

Svetlana Fadeeva is a Twilight fan, and keeps her eye out for anything related to the Native wolves. She's Russian, and doesn't understand much English, so she's shy. But it doesn't hinder her from sending interesting stuff our way! Facebook.

We're looking for more contributors. If you're interested in contributing, let Annie know! We have a hidden group we use for posting stuff that eventually goes on the page, so it's easy for everybody involved to do this.

Previous contributors:

Rean Goose. She's been around the Native scene for many years. She works in catering, and has worked on film productions. Her interests changed, and she didn't feel she could contribute as much, so she left during the fall of 2012. Facebook.

Veronica joined as editor right after Rob, and contributed when she found something she wants to post. Veronica is Norwegian. She didn't feel she contributed enough, and eventually decided to leave during the fall of 2012. Contact: Facebook

Morten Krogh started contributing to the newsletter in October 2006, and has been one of the editors of the Facebook page from the start. He's also contributed to the actor linklist a while ago. Morten went on to start his own Facebook page World Indigenous News in June 2011.

Roscoe Pond let the NativeCelebs newsletter publish some of his writings about Native in Hollywood, and then moved on to his own blog in 2009. We still occasionally repost his updates. In 2008 he hosted Native Talent, an award event. He's been sending out alerts about castings regarding Natives for years. Facebook page:: Roscoe Pond Actor Page. New blog: Native Hollywood Casting.

Natalie Noel produced a documentary about Natives in Hollywood, and then wrote the "Glitter Report" for a while around 2003. It was published on her own website, but she also allowed the NativeCelebs newsletter to carry her updates.  She then moved back to her home town. She still has a website with occasional updates.

There are more, but I have to dig through my old files to find more names!