KayAnn Miller (descended Potawatomi) is the Co-Executive Director of The Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger (MT-PECH). Previously, she served as Communications and Engagement Specialist for Montana No Kid Hungry. KayAnn has a background in Indigenous food foraging, gardening, harvesting, and preparation and has worked to Indigenize school food pantries since 2018 when she served as an executive sous chef at MSU. During her time there, KayAnn partnered with many stakeholders both on and off MSU’s Bozeman Campus to bring Indigenous foods to MSU’s dining hall, retail, and catering menus and food operations. Previously, KayAnn worked in communications for the National Cattlemen’s Association (before it became the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association), the American Sheep Industry Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and the Agricultural Retailers Association, among others. KayAnn has an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and undergraduate degrees in history and journalism from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is the proud single mom of a son serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.

KayAnn’s current research interests are situated at the intersection of mental health, nutrition, and culture, and hypothesizes that diet plays a key role in mental-health disparities experienced in Indigenous communities in Montana as measured by rates of depression, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts. KayAnn finds the potential links between adequate nutritional intake, depression and suicide reduction intriguing from a cultural standpoint, given the high nutritional quality of many pre-contact Indigenous diets. KayAnn brings this line of thinking to MT-PECH. Click here for links to current research on the roles nutrition and nutrition-security play in kids’ mental health, physical health, school performance, and future ability to earn.