Lyla June Johnston

United States

Diné (Navajo) Nation, Cheyenne tribe

Dr. Lyla June Johnston (aka Lyla June) is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organiser of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting youth, traditional land stewardship practices and healing intergenerational and inter-cultural trauma. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans. Lyla is a well-known advocate for Indigenous rights, environmental protection, and cultural preservation.

At the World Peace Gathering in July 2025, hosted by Kindred Spirits Ireland, Lyla will bring her powerful speaking – a voice rooted in ancestral wisdom and spiritual clarity. Her words are medicine: activating memory, awakening responsibility, and calling forth collective healing. With grace and fire, she will speak to the sacredness of life, the strength of Indigenous knowledge, and the path toward unity between peoples and with the Earth. Her presence is sure to inspire, challenge, and uplift all who gather.