Taloa’s heart is her “okla,” her people, of the Chahta and Chikasha Nations. Her life represents the fierce resilience, grounded spirituality, abiding humility, and unyielding compassion of the ones who walked before her.

Taloa grew up in Oklahoma, enveloped and influenced by her Chahta and Chikasha relatives, as well as her extended Cheyenne and Arapaho relations. Through the compassion, dignity, grace, perseverance, and faith in healing she was shown through the lives of her family members, Taloa found her “iyyikowa,” or service to others, in the nursing profession. For Taloa, preventive medicine in healthcare looks like nursing providers who are respectfully educated in the history of Indigenous people, who are trained to actively listen, and who seek ways to combine Indigenous spirituality with conventional medicine.

In 2009, after completing the Licensed Practical Nurse program at Pontotoc Technology Center, Taloa started working at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center, working in the Primary Care and Emergency Departments. She graduated from Murray State College in 2015 with her Associate Degree in Nursing. Taloa continued to work in the Emergency Department, then found her home in the ICU.

Taloa, along with her cousin, colleague, and mentor Sonya Frazier, RN, BSN, founded the Oklahoma Indigenous Nurses Association (OINA) with the encouragement of Jane Nelson, CEO of the Oklahoma Nurses Association. The OINA builds relationships with hospital organizations, universities, schools, and communities to bring awareness, appreciation, and celebration to Native American culture. The organization also encourages Indigenous nurses to pursue leadership positions and active roles in associations and boards to honor the people whose voices they represent.

Taloa believes that it is a nurse’s responsibility to listen to their patients, to educate themselves on the social drivers that affect health within Indigenous communities, and to put implicit bias in check with every patient encounter. Taloa carries this philosophy with her in her nursing practice.

In 2021, she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. She is a proud member of the Oklahoma Indigenous Nurses Association and is excited for the opportunity to serve with National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association (NANAINA) and on the ANA’s National Commission to Address Racism. She is currently making plans to return to school to continue her journey of representing — and healing — her people.