Kleo P. Skavinski

Kleo Skavinski is Dene from the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation in Treaty 11 and Ukrainian. They grew up in Denendeh, on the shore of TuCho (The Great Slave Lake) and K’atl’odeh (The Hay River), by their mother Serena, and grandmother Sarah. They have always been a creative, outspoken person with a love for the Land and all that inhabit it. Kleo loves to read and spend time with those they love, especially if these activities can take place outside. 

Professionally, Kleo is oriented toward community and leadership roles. Kleo has worked in and around their community library for nearly a decade, a place that they frequented as a child with their grandmother. A notable experience for Kleo was their time working with the northern arts-based sexual education program FOXY as a teenager. They visited communities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in their later high school years as a Peer Facilitator, making connections and fostering conversation with other young people. 

In 2019, Kleo graduated from high school and relocated to the city of Vancouver, BC to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the field of Sociology with a minor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies. When feasible, Kleo centers its scholarship on Denendeh and the brilliance that is cultivated there. Kleo is proud of their communities, from home and at school.