Details Economic Development When Emily Edenshaw feels stuck, she returns to a piece of advice from an elder: if you’re spinning your wheels in the mud, get out and walk. That mindset reflects a path shaped by reconnection and recovery. As a child, Edenshaw didn’t know she was an Alaska Native, a gap rooted in her family’s history of forced adoption and cultural disconnection. Years later, that experience — along with personal loss — informs how she approaches leadership.