The Luak Group is the holding company of subsidiaries, Heroda Bikax^e Consulting LLC, Morning Star Consultants LLC, and Ugisa Tribal Consultants LLC. With over 15 years of professional experience in Indian Country, The Luak Group is dedicated to ensuring a nation building approach that tribal communities can assert to for capacity growth, strategic orientation, cultural collaboration, while protecting tribal sovereignty through all of our services and businesses. Our teams of subject matter experts will ensure your mission and vision is incorporated into your goals and objectives at every level of the services we provide.
The Luak Group has one vision in mind…Bringing Solutions to Indian Country.
CEO/OWNER/PRINCIPAL TRIBAL CONSULTANT
BRANDI LIBERTY
Brandi Liberty, a proud member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and descendant of the United Houma Nation, is a distinguished professional in the field of tribal consulting. As the owner and CEO of The Luak Group, she brings over 15 years of expertise to her work with Tribes and Tribal entities. Miss Liberty's career is marked by an impressive track record, securing over $100 million in grants from federal and state sources, earmarked for enhancing tribal communities. Her expertise encompasses business development, Indian housing, grant writing and management, tribal housing, human resources, technical assistance, economic development, policy development, compliance, and strategic planning.
In the literary world, Miss Liberty is the co-author of the book "Womanhood: Identity to Intimacy and Everything in Between," published in 2023. Her thought leadership extends to speaking engagements, including the notable keynote at the Healing the Circle in Our Tribal Communities Symposium by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2019 and participating in the Families Are Sacred Summit hosted by the Cherokee Nation in 2023. Her insights are sought after, with features in High Country News and the Associated Press. Miss Liberty's monthly column for Verite News provides readership in New Orleans with insights into the culture, challenges, and events that shape the lives of the Tribes in Louisiana and across Indian Country.
Miss Liberty's role as an MBDA Enterprising Woman of Color highlights her commitment to the advancement of women of color in business. She has been a vital member of various boards, including those for the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and the IPAI Community Loan Fund for the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center and Research Wild.
Miss Liberty holds a BA in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Kansas' Center of Indigenous Nations Studies, where she specialized in Tribal Human Resources. She obtained an Executive Leadership Certificate from Harvard Business School's program on Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities, in collaboration with the Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA) and an Executive Leadership Certificate from the American Indian Policy Institute (AIPI) Indigenous Leadership Academy from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. She is currently participating in the Women’s Leadership Academy through Loyola University New Orleans.
In Memorial to my Ancestors
Josephine Ethel “Josie” Campbell Simmonds, January 1898 -January 1977
(Great-Grandmother)
Born on the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska reservation in 1898. On her honeymoon in 1914 she was denied a room at the local hotel in White Cloud KS for being Indian.
Ethil Simmonds Liberty
June 1915 – April 1991
(Grandmother)
The eldest of 21 siblings, my grandmother was born in White Cloud, KS on the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska reservation in 1915 to a Ioway mother and French father. This photo was taken of my grandmother on the day she became a US citizen, following the Indian Citizen Act of 1924, when she was about 9-10 years old. The oldest of 17 siblings, she was born on the lands of the Ioway but was not afforded the right to be a citizen of the United States until this day in 1924.
Linest Parfait Sr.,
July 1900 – January 1963
(Great-grandfather)
Born in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana in 1900 to Jean Marie Parfait and Mary Billiot, Linest Parfait Sr. (United Houma Nation) was a trapper and worked in the fields down the bayou in Lousiana.
Mable Parfait Andrues,
May 1926 – November 2008
The eldest of 15 siblings, my grandmother, Mable Parfait Andrues (United Houma Nation) was born in Bayou Dularge, Louisiana to Linest Parfait Sr. and Lydia Trosclair Parfait in 1926, helping to raise her younger siblings.