Indigene Magazine is the vision of Niya DeGroat, a Two-Spirit Diné individual of the Salt Clan, born for the Towering House Clan. Based in Arizona, the magazine began as Niya’s master’s thesis project while studying fashion journalism at the Academy of Art University. While plans for its ongoing development were met with the global shutdown of COVID-19 following graduation, the foundation for Indigene Magazine has been laid.
With a soft launch of Indigene’s social media and digital platform occurring during NFWSF 2025, Niya is eager to develop Indigene Magazine further by continuing to unearth the dynamic tapestry of Native fashion, art, and culture through forward-thinking storytelling.
Outside of Indigene, Niya is a multi-hyphenate creative, and a contributing fashion writer for various Native publications including Indian Country Today, The American Indian Graduate, Cultural Survival, and News From Native California. From 2015 to 2024, Niya served on the executive team of Phoenix Fashion Week as Director of Branding and Media where they were responsible for overseeing the visual and written content of the PHXFW brand from social media to marketing, as well as co-produce the behind-the-scenes and front of house operations and production.
Niya also helped indigenize the PHXFW runway by recruiting a number of Indigenous fashion brands including Designers of the Year ACONAV (2017) and Red Berry Woman (2022). With 13 years working in fashion, Niya specializes in fashion-focused content including writing, social media, graphic design, branding, creative direction, styling, photography, digital marketing and event planning & management.
