Nona Siyaka

Nona Siyaka (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She grew up in the Twin Cities metropolitan area and on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Reservation in South Dakota. After graduating from Harding Senior High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, she took a gap year and backpacked through Europe before attending the University of Minnesota. She graduated with a B.A. in Cinema and Media Studies and English Literature. Her undergraduate thesis project was a short documentary, shot over two years, entitled "Rough and Tumble", which follows bull-riding rodeo cowboys on their path to the World Championships. After interning for a London based film production company in 2004, she later returned to the United Kingdom and received an MSc from the University of Edinburgh in 2010. Her short documentary graduate film project, "Troubled Skies", highlights the problem of Golden eagle and wildlife persecution in the Scottish countryside.