Nicole Oxendine

Nicole Oxendine is an Indigenous feminist catalyst for advancing systemic and organizational change. For over 30 years, she has led strategic communications, policy advocacy, and program development for transformative impact. Nicole has held senior leadership and consulting roles with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the National Women’s Law Center, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the New York State Assembly.

Dedicated to advancing equity for women, children, and historically disenfranchised communities, Nicole works to amplify marginalized voices and drive meaningful change. Rooted in justice and culture, she founded RiverShe Collective Arts, a collaborative creative community and independent production company that nurtures and produces emerging works by underrepresented voices. A writer and interdisciplinary artist herself, her most recent poetry appears in An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping (Thick Press, 2024).

At the Braxton Institute, Nicole works to advance the Institute’s reparative justice efforts. She serves as a trusted thought partner, community engagement leader, and partnership liaison. Representing the Institute at events and meetings, she ensures informed alignment between evolving strategies, ongoing initiatives, and broader reparative justice movements. She also holds a special interest in strengthening kinship relations with Indigenous communities on political, spiritual, and economic levels.

Nicole’s foundation in Urban Policy and Planning at New York University and Hunter College informs her work at the intersection of justice, culture, and the arts. She later studied at the Corcoran School of Art + Design and earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts with a concentration in Indigenous & Decolonial Arts from Goddard College.

Nicole is a proudly enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and the mother of triplet daughters who are also making beautiful change in the world.