Zianne Richardson

Zianne Richardson (she/her), whose spirit name is MihÁ:oknaho: (“she is busy working”), is a citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of Hollister, NC. She is a second grade teacher at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School. Zianne earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She served as Miss Indian North Carolina 2024-2025 and is a sister of Alpha Pi Omega Sorority, Incorporated.

Zianne’s accomplishments include being an America 250 NC K-12 Educators Convening, receiving a 2023 UNC Chancellor’s Award, co-authoring the Arts & Society chapter in the 2022 CNAY bi-annual report and the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. She has been passionate about education from a young age and, since taking her first American Indian Studies course at UNC, she has been inspired to strengthen her community and understanding of what it means for our nations to exercise their sovereignty to fortify nationhood.