About Progress North
Our Team


Shawnu Ksicinski
Director of Progress North
She|Her
Email: shawnu.progressnorth@gmail.com
Phone: (218) 590-3408
Shawnu grew up in Ashland, a small northern Wisconsin town between two reservations. Shawnu’s mom was a single mother until she was ten years old when she married her Indigenous stepfather. She grew up in generational poverty, and because half of her family is Indigenous, they experienced racism throughout their lives. There isn’t a single issue that Shawnu has worked on during her time at TakeAction MN that hasn’t touched her family in some way. Read More
David may be a transplant from the big city, but his lived experiences on his journey to finding home on the south shore of the big lake have led him time and again to work that defends the common good. For nearly a decade, he has called Ashland, Wisconsin his home.
As a member of the LGTBQ+ community, David has experienced firsthand the discrimination and inequity that is inherent in a society steeped in homophobia, heteronormativity, and gender normativity. As a person with an autoimmune disorder, he knows too well the reality of navigating a for-profit healthcare system that fails those of us who are most vulnerable. As a single father of a child adopted from foster care, he has seen the very real effects of “the system” and its deficiencies when it comes to meeting the most basic needs of the underrepresented. Read More

Cheyenne Otto-Defoe
Lead Organizer
She|Her
Email: cheyenne.progressnorth@gmail.comPhone: (218) 721-6103
As an indigenous member of the LGBTQ+ community, Jade is passionate about working for the livelihood of marginalized peoples. Born and raised in Odanah, Wisconsin, Jade has directly experienced the generational hardships of Northern Wisconsinites and struggling reservations. Due to consistent, near unavoidable exposure to the oppressive environment in the North, Jade is committed to fighting for the success of every underprivileged and underrepresented community in Wisconsin. Read More
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