Malia Gesuale focuses her talent and energies on environmental, education, religious and cultural freedom, and voting rights matters at NARF. Malia serves on NARF’s team representing Bay Mills Indian Community in their fight against the Line 5 oil pipeline and works on behalf of Tribal Nations defending the Bears Ears and Ancestral Footprints National Monuments. She represents Tribal Nations and student plaintiffs in their suit challenging the Bureau of Indian Education’s unlawful mass firings. Malia serves on NARF’s Eagle Feather Taskforce, assisting students seeking to wear their eagle feathers at their graduation ceremonies.
As a Native Hawaiian woman, Malia is inspired by the ʻōlelo noʻeau:he aliʻi ka ʻāina; he kauwā ke kanaka (the land is the chief; the people are its servant) and sees it as her kuleana (responsibility) and honor to serve the land and its Indigenous stewards.
Malia joined NARF in 2023 as a Blaustein Fellow focused on environmental and voting rights issues impacting Native people. Before coming to NARF, Malia gained invaluable experience serving in the Harvard Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, at an externship at the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Solicitor (Twin Cities), and through her positions in summer clerkships for Conservation Law Foundation, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and Earthjustice’s Tribal Partnerships Program
When Malia is not serving the land and Native people, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Joe, and their yellow lab, Sonny.
Download a high resolution headshot of Malia Gesuale here.
Tribal Affiliation
- Native Hawaiian
Education
- Harvard Law School, J.D
- Dean’s Award for Community Leadership
- more than 1,000 hours pro bono service
- Columbia University B.A. Human Rights (Sustainable Development) and Political Science
Admissions to Practice
- U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit
- Colorado
