Raven Payment (Anishinaabe/Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) is a storyteller at heart and a grassroots advocate working to confront the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives through community action and policy change. A proud mother and U.S. Navy veteran who served in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, Raven serves on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force of Colorado. Her past service also includes two terms as the co-chair of the Denver American Indian Commission and several years as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in the child welfare system.

Raven played a key role in passing Colorado Senate Bills 22-150 and 23-054, landmark legislation that established and expanded the state’s Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, one of the first permanent offices of its kind in the country. These efforts also helped Colorado become the third state in the U.S. to implement a Missing Indigenous Person Alert. For her leadership, Raven was honored as Trailblazer of the Year by Emerge Colorado among other distinctions.

From community circles to the Capitol floor, Raven has helped turn grassroots calls for justice into legislation, proving that real change begins with those who refuse to be overlooked.