Nicolle L. Arthun, MSN, CNM, FACNM is a Dine’ Nurse-Midwife from the Navajo Nation.

Is a nationally and internationally recognized Navajo Nurse-midwife, maternal‑health strategist, and policy advocate with more than 18  years of experience designing Native‑led care systems that braid Indigenous knowledge with Western health‑care models. Nicolle completed her Bachelor in Nursing and Master of Nursing from the University of New Mexico, she is internationally known as the leading Native American Maternal Health expert who uses her knowledge, skills, and wisdom as a nurse-midwife and healer to inform innovative changes to maternal health, policy, and community wellness.

As Founder & CEO of Transcending Strategies LLC, Nicolle leads a Native‑women‑owned consulting firm that provides strategy, leadership coaching, and policy advisory services to tribes, nonprofits, and health systems across the U.S. and beyond. Her work helps organizations build culturally grounded programs, birth centers, and rural clinics that expand access to respectful, community‑defined care.

Nicolle’s impact is rooted in frontline action. She established Changing Woman Initiative—the first U.S. Native‑led, culturally based maternal‑health nonprofit—raising more than  $2 million to deliver prenatal, birth, and postpartum services in both rural and urban Indigenous communities in New Mexico. Today, she continues to translate that experience into state and federal policy arenas as a Robert  Wood  Johnson  Foundation Health Policy Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján, where she shapes legislation on maternal, Indigenous, and Medicaid reform.

How She Leads

Described by colleagues as a “Relational Architect of Living Systems,” Nicolle builds trust‑based networks rather than hierarchies, aligning diverse stakeholders across health, policy, and community sectors. She is quietly transformational—holding space for vision, mapping systemic patterns, and guiding teams toward regenerative solutions through deep listening and grounded clarity.

Quick Facts

• Consultant & Facilitator: Guides boards, tribal leaders, and nonprofits through strategic planning, governance, and organizational redesign.

• Global & Human‑Rights Advocate: Provides testimony to the United Nations, Inter‑American Commission on Human Rights, and state legislatures to advance reproductive sovereignty and decriminalize Indigenous midwifery.

• Clinical & Academic Leader: Co‑directs Project ECHO programs that reduce perinatal disparities and scale Indigenous health‑equity models across New  Mexico and beyond.

• Recognized Fellowships: RWJF Health Policy Fellow (2025), Gloria’s Foundation Fellow (2025), Fellow of the American College of Nurse‑Midwives (2024), Aspen‑Aetna Healthy Communities Fellow (2020), among others.

Why It Matters

Whether coaching an emerging Indigenous birth center, briefing U.S. senators, or facilitating cross‑cultural learning circles, Nicolle moves systems toward sovereignty, sustainability, and equitable maternal health. Clients turn to her for intuitive strategy, rigorous policy insight, and the ability to weave community wisdom into scalable, future‑ready solutions.