Alexis Angel Chingman-Tijerina (Detroit-Lansing)

Alexis Angel Chingman-Tijerina (DOB 01-08-1986) went to be with our Creator on 25 June 2024. Alexis was a two-spirit member of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi and actively sought to reconnect with our native ways. She received a degree from Lansing Community College, but her passion was food, and she earned a culinary degree from Schoolcraft in Livonia. She was working towards her bachelor’s degree in native studies from Northern Michigan University. She began establishing the “Aisha House,” (Aisha meaning “Alive and well”) as a safe place for African and indigenous peoples to eat, commune and build deeper relationships with the land. Alexis was co-partner with Rosebud Bear of Maple Buds Kitchen an anishabe owned catering service offering traditional native foods to Greater Detroit Metro Area. She was a leader in her Detroit community with organizations like Black to the Land, the Waawiyataanong Detroit Sugarbush, Make Food Not Waste, Soul Fire Farm and Keep Growing Detroit. Traditional ecological ways, food sovereignty and native values ground her in community as a mother and leader, values she held dearly as she raised her son Cameron.

Alexis was an ogichidawkwe and a knowledge keeper, she had a strong relationship with plant medicines that she took great care and time to share with her friends, and any being she encountered. She was profound, wise, bright, and deeply powerful. Often halfway between the spirit world and our world, she sought to enrich, to feed, to give, and share. She was a connector, strategist, organizer and leader in her community and her legacy, the way she touched so many people with authentic care, kindness and compassion will carry on in each of us as we grieve our loss, she was a bright light to all who knew and loved her.

She leaves behind her loving son Cameron; father Nicholas Tijerina and devoted mother Christina Chingman; brothers Albert (Apollonia) Chingman-Tijerina and Nicholas (Chris) Tijerina; pets, Rue, Jessicalita, Peaches, and Dumpling; nieces and nephews, Albert Jr, Oleanna, Maria, Naomi, Anysa, Bella, Jazmine, Tony, and Thomas; many aunts, uncles, and cousins; special friends, Scott, Isra, Antonio, Rosebud, Jaike, Shannon, and Chris; many co-workers, friends, and neighbors.

A viewing will be held on Friday, July 5, 2024, from 5-7pm at Paradise Funeral Chapel: 1107 E Miller Rd. Lansing, MI 48911. A mass of Christian burial on Saturday, July 6, 2024, at 10am (lunch afterwards) at St. Mary’s Cathedral: 219 Seymour Ave. Lansing, MI 48933.