Patrick Willie is a world-champion Navajo hoop dancer and social media influencer from Orem, Utah. With 172K subscribers on YouTube and 48.2K followers on Tik-Tok, Willie has been able to use his reach to connect with Indigenous youth and spread his passion for Native American culture, as well as work to help preserve Native American teachings and languages. Willie’s YouTube channel, @patrickisanavajo, has a significant reach regardless of race or ethnicity. “Through my social media and YouTube videos, I try to find a common ground that is relatable on any level. So rather than trying to alienate others I try to keep it as general as possible, because everyone is welcome.” His popular “Native’s React” video series encapsulates the light-hearted humor of Indigenous peoples, forming a welcoming bridge between Indigenous peoples and those from diverse backgrounds. You can find this series on YouTube or watch clips on their social media @nativesreact. Willie is committed to creating content that is appropriate for all ages, refusing to include crude humor and adult language, as well as any depictions of natives drinking or using drugs. “One of the biggest things for me is stereotypes. One of the common stereotypes is that a lot of Native Americans just drink alcohol and are drunks. I’m keeping that in mind as I’m making our YouTube videos. I won’t include anything that would follow in the line of stereotypes or portray our Indigenous people in a negative way, because, at the end of the day, my channel is just sharing a good feeling, and sharing some Native humor There’s no place for any negativity or anything of that sort.” In 2020, Willie was ranked sixth in the world for Native American Hoop Dancing, showing the world that Native American culture is still alive and thriving. I’ve been fortunate enough to reach the high ranks with the other World Champion hoop dancers. You can use so much creativity and that’s what I love about the dance. I have that big strive for creativity within myself, and that’s where I have applied it to my YouTube videos too. I have so much fun aside from making YouTube videos; I have so much fun studying other videos and studying how people would go about showing one thing, and one way of doing different topics, and so the creativity is the most fun part for me.” Patrick Willie is an example of how embracing technology can be a valuable tool to help promote and preserve culture. He hopes that through his example of embracing creativity and technology, more Indigenous youth will embrace their culture and develop a positive self-identity. Willie advocates for people of all backgrounds and experiences to be positive and become educated about Navajo heritage and native cultures. “If you are curious, then ask questions. Just know that US Native Americans are still here and that we exist  pretty much everywhere. If I could leave people with something, it would be this: We are all are different, all of us. Native Americans are different, and we all exist in different places in the world. A lot of the stereotypes that you see about Native Americans are not true. We are one of the smallest groups in the American population, and we still exist. I know many talented Native people around the world and as time goes on, I feel like there has become more and more exposure of each individual, and I think that’s awesome.”