Welcome back to The Tourism RESET with me, your host, Rebecca Woolford.

My next guest is Dr. Lyla June Johnston, aka Lyla June, an Indigenous musician, author, and activist of Diné nation and European heritage. Lyla’s creativity and passion have engaged audiences around the globe, inviting collective and ecological healing. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford with doctoral research focused on how pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped Turtle Island (now called the Americas) to create abundant food systems for humans and non-humans alike.

Lyla’s wisdom and guidance have completely reshaped how I think about this industry and the work I show up to do each week. This conversation is about grounding tourism in Indigenous knowledge, understanding history we were never taught, and exploring how travel can become regenerative rather than extractive.

Here's what you'll discover in this episode:

🌍 What Turtle Island really means, and why understanding this is foundational for anyone promoting travel in North America

🌍 How generational trauma shapes Indigenous communities, and why tourism professionals and businesses need this context to shape how we see the world

🌍 Three key challenges Indigenous communities face, and how tourism done right can support regeneration rather than extraction

🌍 The critical Indigenous principles of solidarity and reciprocity

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