When Zach Fansler ran for House District 38, he promised to represent the region’s mainly Alaska Native population. Now that’s he’s in office, he’s making good on that promise by choosing two Alaska Native women for his staff.
Mary Schlosser, originally from Kotlik near the mouth of the Yukon, is working mainly on education-based legislation with Fansler this term. When asked about her background, she turned to salmon and her childhood.
“There was so much fish we would just pull in. And then just cut fish all day long, and hang fish, and soak fish, and season fish," Schlosser said.
She says the most important strengths she brings to the Fansler team are traditional Yup’ik values that she learned from her grandparents at fish camp.
Though she only lived in Western Alaska in her youth, she always returns to those early lessons and memories. Later, she worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and remembers feeling like her upbringing helped her put fisheries issues in perspective.
“I was able to speak with the commissioner about some of the policies that he was passing along to Western Alaska and the Yukon and the Kuskokwim Rivers with escapement goals," said Schlosser.
Schlosser spent her adult life outside of rural Alaska and says that she can see both sides of the coin now, which she considers an asset in her current job.
The project that she is currently working on is universal Pre-K care for Alaskans. Though the bill has many challenges moving forward, like funding, Schlosser is jumping right in.
Michelle Spark is the other Alaska Native member of the team. Spark grew up in Bethel, and has spent her career working with tribal organizations like Coastal Villages Region Fund and the Association of Village Council Presidents. She also worked with Senator Ted Stevens in Washington D.C. Spark has been running a company with her sisters that sells traditional skin care and beauty products from rural Alaska, but she’s putting that on hold.
“This is stuff in my blood. I really enjoy it, and I really missed it, and it just seemed like a great opportunity and good timing for me to try it out," Spark said.
Spark’s father, Harold Spark, is best known as the father of the Community Development Quota program, which has shaped fishing regulation and communities all over Alaska by forming corporation-like nonprofits around fisheries.
“His natural resources background was really really big in shaping me and how I look at things, especially in terms of subsistence," Spark said.
Fansler’s third staffer, Jill Yordy of Fairbanks, could not speak with us as she was traveling during the time of these interviews, but Fansler says he couldn’t be happier with the people he’s brought on.
“I’m obviously biased, but I think they’re the best team in the building and so far they’ve just been phenomenal," Fansler said.