Staff Members

Leo Carpenter, Jr.

Leo Carpenter, Jr., a Karuk-Hupa-Yurok Indian, was born on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in Hoopa, California and is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. Leo graduated with a BA in Native American Studies with a minor in American Indian Education from Humboldt State University (HSU) in Arcata, CA. While attending HSU, he became involved in Yurok basket weaving classes and ended up teaching a men’s Eel Trap Basket class at HSU. He also became the first male board member of the California Indian Basketweavers Association. Leo completed internships at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York, New York, the Phoebe Hearst Museum in Berkeley, CA., and the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland, CA. Leo also completed an internship at the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) in Sacramento, CA. Leo is a board member of the prestigious California Association of Museums (CAM). Leo joined the Center as a Public Outreach Trainee and is currently working with DPR in Sacramento, CA. He is helping to plan and build the new California Indian Cultural Center and Museum (CICCM). Leo is a recent graduate of John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, CA with a graduate certificate in Museum Studies.