Nicole Charley is of the Taix Band and the Wasco/Dog River Band of the Columbia River region. Her name in Ichishkin is Tsuumpxliit and her English name is Nicole Charley. She is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and she is a designated first food gatherer and protector for her home community. Nicole is a beacon of traditional foods knowledge and a leader locally as well as nationally.

In 2013, she participated in the Oregon LEAD Program, a culturally specific program designed to build leadership capacity across Oregon's Native communities, which placed her within a collaborative network of Native leaders statewide. She was also part of the 2017 Tribal Professionals Cohort at the University of Arizona's January in Tucson (JIT) through the Indigenous Governance Program.

Nicole has worked at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) since 2011, where she was involved with the Fisheries Management Department and now works in the Office of the Executive Director. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Portland State University, and is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Food Systems and Society program at Oregon Health & Science University. She and her partner Jeremy are raising two nephews, Kevin and Jordan. She enjoys hiking and traveling and she loves going home to Central Oregon to spend time with family and to gather the traditional foods of her people.

Nicole shares the food gathering stories of her community, how she and others are preparing the next generation of food gatherers, hunters and fishers, and the hurdles they face in 2019 in their efforts to incorporate traditional foods and cultural ways of knowing into their daily lives.