UO community members have the opportunity to hear from one of the design world’s rising stars, who is using her UO education and creative talent to help Native communities.

Tracie Jackson (Diné) is an Indigenous designer focused on the intersectionality between culture, sport, and design. Jackson is focused on creating authentic representation for BIPOC in the sportswear industry.

A fourth generation (Diné) Indigenous artist, she grew up on and off the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona, raised by an artisan family of weavers and silversmiths. At age 14 she saw the Nike corporation’s N7 logo at a Native basketball tournament and immediately was inspired to become an N7 designer.

Attending the UO, she majored in Industrial and Product Design and was active in the Native American Student Union. In 2018 her dream job became a reality when she was hired by Nike as a graphic designer for footwear and apparel. She’s now a footwear designer leading the N7 design team in Beaverton.

In 2019 Jackson led the creative direction for the N7's Holiday Collection collaboration with Pendleton Woolen Mills. The collaboration featured footwear, clothing, and a custom designed Pendleton blanket with proceeds going back to the N7 Fund and the American Indian College Fund.

Jackson was also featured in the collections campaign highlighting Indigenous women who are “Modern Matriarchs.” Jackson and other Native women on the campaign were invited to lead a panel discussion at the Teen Vogue Summit exploring the Modern Matriarch concept.

In 2021 she started Rezilient Soles, her online shop influenced by her experience at the intersection of Native arts and sport culture. Representation matters, says Jackson, and she’s using art, design, and craftsmanship to make new space for Indigenous peoples in sport.

The BE Series is a student-run program that brings together thinkers, makers, and disrupters in every field to share their ideas on issues that really matter.

For her BE Series event Jackson will also visit a UO class and take part in the night’s sit down dinner, which is catered by Caddo Woman, an Indigenous-owned catering business. That three-part approach to each BE Series event offers students growth opportunities beyond a standard lecture, said Anette Rodriguez-Rojas, a fourth year student majoring in Journalism and Spanish who’s the BE Series chair.

“These opportunities can open their minds to new ways of viewing the world around them,” Rodriguez-Rojas said. “They also help students meet and make connections with other students and professionals who share the same interests.”