Some people happen into their jobs, but CIRI Shareholder Rachael Fisher (Tsimshian) knew she wanted to work for The CIRI Foundation (TCF). Looking for a fresh start and wanting to move back to Alaska after the untimely death of her husband, Rachael “really pursued TCF,” she recalled. “I kept checking the TCF website, and when the new (communications manager) position came open, I was like, yep, that’s for me.”
Rachael is connected to CIRI through her mother, original enrollee Cecile Wesley, and her maternal grandmother, Ellen Tait Wesley. Rachael’s father has German and Swedish ancestry. Rachael’s mother’s family hails from Metlakatla Indian Community in Southeast Alaska—the only federal Indian reserve in Alaska and not a part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). “My grandparents had moved to Anchorage by the time ANCSA passed, which is how my grandma and mom came to enroll with CIRI,” Rachael explained.
Rachael’s grandfather, Walter Wesley, is Tsimshian from Canada, so he did not enroll with any ANCSA corporation. However, he helped write the S.35, S.835 and S.1571 bills to provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Alaska Native people.
Rachael’s father Rachael’s father, Guy Fisher III, was a school teacher, principal and district superintendent before retiring, “and he always emphasized how vital education is, and how being an Alaska Native person can open up certain opportunities,” she recalled.
Rachael earned a journalism degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage, describing her postsecondary educational journey as “very non-linear.” “I graduated from high school in 1993, but I didn’t start college until 1997,” she explained. “I had always gravitated toward English and history and thought I might want to be a teacher. But then I took a step back and thought, is this really what I want to do?” She paused her studies and worked several jobs—including for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Alaska Native Coalition on Employment and Training, and Providence Alaska Medical Center—before enrolling as a journalism major. TCF scholarships “helped a lot and allowed me to not have to work as much during the school year,” she said.
Shortly after receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2009, Rachael landed a job as senior editor for an Anchorage-based publishing company. She had been working only a few months when the company announced a merger, and she was offered a managing-editor position and an accompanying job transfer to San Diego. “Having just graduated college, I thought it would be good for my career. And, you know, hard to say no to palm trees and sunshine.”
Rachael lived in San Diego for 12 years. During that time, she met her husband, Ian Harmer. They were together for 10 years and married for three before he passed away in September 2021 from complications of West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness he contracted in 2018.
“My husband was a young, healthy person, only 43 years old,” Rachael said. “He went from being incredibly active—working construction, surfing, biking—to not being able to stand or even get out of bed on his own. It took the doctors a week to diagnose him because the virus wasn’t on anyone’s radar, especially since we had not been traveling.”
Nine months after her husband’s passing, Rachael packed up her three cats and drove from San Diego, traveling the Alcan highway through Canada on her way to Alaska. Somewhere between Tok and Glennallen, her car died. “I think of it as kind of a typical Alaska adventure people might have driving the Alcan,” Rachael recalled. “But I think it was probably one of my favorite things about that trip, because even though it was stressful at the time, I look back on the experience, and so many people tried to help. It was hot, and people stopped to give me cold water and warn me about bears nearby. Almost every car that drove by was an Alaskan saying, ‘What can I do?’ It instantly felt like this is home; this is where I’m supposed to be. And the opportunity with TCF truly matched up with what I was hoping to do, which is to give back after having been a scholarship recipient myself.”
The CIRI Foundation is committed to changing the lives of its Alaska Native beneficiaries through academic and career technical education scholarships, and through funding heritage and other education projects, such as the Native Youth Olympic Games. Since its establishment in 1982 by the CIRI Board of Directors, TCF has contributed more than $42 million to the educational and cultural pursuits of CIRI Shareholders and the Descendants of original CIRI enrollees.
As TCF’s communications manager, Rachael’s duties run the gamut, from publications and brand management to alumni relations and social media. Since joining the TCF team in October 2022, “it’s been crazy—busy and a lot of fun,” she said. “TCF does so many cool things, and a lot of it is because we want to make things work (for our beneficiaries). We look at the whole person. It’s not just, ‘Here’s the paper, you didn’t check the box, so you don’t qualify.’ That’s not what we’re about. We’ll call and ask, ‘Is there a reason you didn’t check this box? Let’s talk about it because we want to help you.’”
As for the future, Rachael is interested in learning more about Alaska Native art and jewelry (“my mom retired from the Alaska Native Medical Center and amassed a collection that she generously shares with me now”), spending time with her Alaska family and continuing to do meaningful work with TCF. “When my mom gifted me some of her shares, it built a stronger connection with the CIRI community,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I am now, working for TCF, if I didn’t have that connection. The more connected you are, the more you want to get involved.”
