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The Company: Online Indian News Service
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Elizabeth F. Gray
Named as one of Tulsa's Top 100 Most influential people.
Born in Miami, Oklahoma.
Graduated from Northeastern State University in 1995 with a Bachelor's degree. Major in Communications with an emphasis in Theatre and a Minor in Indian Studies. She is an experienced Playwright from her college days and continues to enjoy and promotes the arts.
She worked for Inter-Tribal Council from 1993-1994 as the Editor of the Inter Tribal Times Newspaper, which serviced the eight tribes of Ottawa County.
She founded the Native American Times in 1995 under the name of Oklahoma Indian Times. She started the business in a small storage room of a convenience store in Afton, Oklahoma. It grew it's population and circulation one store at a time throughout the N.E. quadrant of Oklahoma.
She is now the co-publisher along with her business partner, Sheldon Gore from Henryetta, Oklahoma. The offices are now located in Glenpool, Oklahoma and it is the largest, independently-owned newspaper in America. Operating in both print and electronic media, Native American Times provides news coverage that is specifically tailored to the Native American perspective with the understanding of special issues, such as as sovereign rights, civil rights and government-to-government relationships with the federal government. Because of our unique coverage, civil rights groups such as Amnesty International utilize our services as an oversite tool for the Native American community.
Our staff of reporters and columnists provide a daily digest of news that is often utilized for national news outlets such as CNN, NBC News, ABC News, Los Angeles Times and others. Because Native Times is independently-owned, we are not influence by tribes, the federal government or gaming revenue of any kind. We are proud to be one of America's only independent, Indian news sources. The website, www.nativetimes.com receives over 1 million hits per month. Combined, the website and newspaper have over 90 thousand readers.
The Oklahoma Native American Business Development Center presented her an award as Native American Advocate of the Year.
The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma recognized her company, the Native American Times for their support and sponsorship of the 2003 Business Opportunity Fair.
The Greater Tulsa Area Indian Affairs Commission awarded her the 2007 Lewis B. Ketchum Excellence in Business Award.
She personally organized and the newspaper sponsored three, "Return to your Roots" Diabetes Conferences which attracted healthcare providers from over 75 different tribes across the United States. The conferences were designed to educate Indian country of the healthy benefits of returning to and promoting traditional foods. Dietitians were able to trade ideas and receive research study materials which supported the theory that a traditional, Native American diet is best suited for the Native American's metabolism.
Elizabeth has two children, James Gray (9) and Naomi Gray (7). She and her children reside in Jenks, Oklahoma.
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| Interview By: Larry Knudsen |
1. Tell us about yourself? (What nation your from, a little about growing up and your passion). I am part Cherokee and Shawnee and grew up in the Northeast corner of Oklahoma in a little town called Miami. There were 8 tribes located in the county I am from. I began to realize that they didn??™t have a voice like the large tribes of Oklahoma which caused a disadvantage to them. My passion with the newspaper was to create a form of communication to strengthen them in numbers. This would give them a voice in the political arena that is very beneficial to the future of the smaller tribes. Government funding, B.I.A. responses to each tribes legal needs, and local public opinion of the tribes are all important for their existence which a newspaper helps to support. This is why the founding fathers of America called the press the Fourth Estate.
2. Tell us about Native Times and what is your role? My role? I guess I am a conductor of sorts, asking those with special talents greater than mine to work together toward what we think we should be.
3. How has it benefited you to be the only independently owned Native American newspaper? It??™s very difficult to be financially successful as a minority newspaper. I think because we are the only ones we are able to survive. There are very few advertising venues that consider reaching, specifically, the Native American communities.
4. Number of employee??™s? Most of our staff are contract labor, we pretty much utilize the internet as our virtual office. There are 8 of us. And several string writers.
5. Tell us about your current projects? We just finished our new website which has all the modern conveniences of the internet today. We are envisioning it being the ???Hub??? of Indian country.
6. What was your first job? My first job at the paper? Because I started it in a tiny storage room in a convenient store, I pretty much did everything. I gathered stories, wrote stories, put the pages together to send to the printers, did the billing, etc etc.
If you are asking about my first job in life, it was selling my mothers music albums from door to door in my neighborhood. I think I was 10 years old at the time. My first ???legal??? job was working at McDonalds.
7. What was your most interesting article with the most responses? That??™s a very difficult question to answer. There were several . The one that touched my heart the most was an article we wrote last year about the Murrow Indian Children??™s Home about to go bankrupt and close down. They only had a month of revenue to keep the doors open. If it were to close, 18 children would have had to go back to various foster homes that would not have been beneficial to their well being. We covered the story, local newspapers and statewide television shows picked up the story. Then the Associated Press picked up the story and within a few weeks they had enough donations to pay their bills, keep their doors open and even open up an extra cottage on their premises which meant they could house even more Native American kids. That one was a tear jerker!
8. Have you been nominated for any awards or recognition? Yes, my bio is attached to this e-mail.
9. Tell us about your staff? My business partner is a saint. His name is Sheldon Gore and he has stood by and fought for us thru the hard times. Susan Ruckman is one of our contributing writers who has a lot of experience in mainstream newspapers. She is a member of the Wichita tribe and is one of the most professional Native American journalists there are today.
10. Who were your mentors while you were growing up? My dad. He would always tell me that I was ???smarter than the rest of ???em.??? And would show me that what is right is more important than any important looking businessman in a fancy suit. And in the newspaper business it was always Tim Giago.
11. What has been your most rewarding moment in your entrepreneurship? People appreciating the product we put out. If we change a life by running an ad or telling a story of hope, then all the financial worries and long hours seem to fade into the background.
12. What is the best advice to give to someone just starting their own business? Have a clear vision of where you want to go. It all starts in your mind before it becomes reality. You can cross America in a car in the dark by just seeing 100 yards ahead of you. So, take the first step and keep the vision clear in your mind. It is one step at a time. You will get there.
13. What personal or business beliefs have changed since you started your business? I??™ve grown more self-confident in my ability to make decisions. If you are the creator of a business, then most likely, you are the one that has an inner ability to ???feel??? what will work and what won??™t. I made that mistake of putting the major decision-making totally into the hands of someone who wanted to grow too big too fast. I knew it was wrong in my gut but ended up suffering the consequences because I didn??™t follow-thru with it and voicing my objections.
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