Copper Beacon is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization made possible by its dedicated board members.
Charli Mills
Member
Charli Mills lives in the Keweenaw of Michigan’s U.P. and is the creator and lead buckaroo at CarrotRanch.com, an international literary community where she encourages literary art with weekly 99-word story challenges. She arranges and publishes literary collections from submissions, focusing on how individual stories can reveal deep collaborative views of the collective unconscious. Charli, a former English Adjunct at Finlandia University, holds an MFA in Creative Writing. She is a founding member of People of the Heart Water Walk, and works with her Indigenous neighbors on special projects. She supports her veteran community through volunteer literary art and positive psychology groups. As a literary artist, she tends dreams, rocks, water, and Reiki and explores old cemeteries and archives for forgotten stories about women and other people overlooked in history. Charli owns Gitty Up Press and Carrot Ranch Writing School (under development). Her first novel manuscript, a work of women's fiction, is currently in revision. She will drop everything to paddle a kayak, play Wingspan, or buy a book for her first grandchild due October 31. Her spouse of three decades, a former US Army Ranger with TBI issues, remains her greatest love story. Together they live with a rascally German Shorthaired Pointer named Mauser. Life is good when you get your story calibrated.
Todd Gast
Member
Born and raised in Dollar Bay, Todd Gast’s dream of becoming an art director in New York City seemed literally and figuratively far-fetched. Desire, perseverance, and hard work made that dream a reality.
Gast attended both Michigan Tech University and Michigan State University, graduating from Michigan State’s College of Arts & Letters with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, with additional studies in advertising, journalism, metallurgy/jewelry design, and art history [emphasis in Japanese art and culture].
His lifelong goal to become an award-winning art director was realized receiving national and international accolades in typography, feature design, and photography with his 10+ years of experience in editorial publishing. He successfully transitioned as Global Art Director with 10 years of mentoring talented, in-house, multi-media design staffs for marketing and public relations departments for major multi-national companies.
In 2017, Gast relocated back to where it all began — back to the Copper Country. He is the current Hancock DDA Coordinator. He also teaches Graphic Design classes at Finlandia University and runs his own home-based company with clients on the east coast of the US and the fresh coast of the Keweenaw. He is also on the Board of the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce and the Board of the New Power Tour. Gast also serves on the Canal Run and Bridgefest Committees.
Kathleen Smith
Member
Kathleen Smith is an enrolled tribal member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She earned her associate degree in Environmental Science at the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC) where she currently serves on the KBOCC Board of Regents, as secretary. She is also a member of the KBIC Youth committee.
She is presently working in the Division of Biological Services at the Great Lake Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). Her job title in Ojibwemowin is the Ganawendang Manoomin, which translates to, ‘She who takes care of the wild rice’. She implements the GLIFWC wild rice stewardship plan and works with 11 member tribes in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Wild rice is of great cultural significance to its member tribes, and GLIFWC focuses on the preservation and enhancement of wild rice in ceded territory lakes. She provides expertise and public information to partners and supports tribal members to ensure treaty rights are exercised.
Prior to GLIFWC, she worked 6 years with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources Department as the Habitat Specialist in native plant restoration, wild rice restoration, invasive species program, and youth initiative. Before returning to the Anishinaabeg homelands, she spent a 16-year stint with the Bureau of land Management as a Fire Engine Captain with the California Desert District in Southern California.
Currently, she is a member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge. Where she incorporates her culture and teachings from her mide family and traditional knowledge holders, in her everyday work. She helps promote food sovereignty and loves to gather medicines and seeds. She lives with her 13-year-old twin boys Caleb and Jacob, and she teaches them hunting, fishing, and gathering medicines. They also have been on many water walks. As an Anishinaabekwe water walker, she facilitates two annual water walks, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Annual Water Walk and the People of the Heart Water Walk where she advocates for Nibi through ceremony and prayer. She gives a voice to those that cannot speak.