Panel 4 Speakers

 Bruce Sunpie Barnes

Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes is a New Orleans culture bearer, musician, composer, photographer, naturalist, and Big Chief of the historic Northside Skull and Bones Gang. A former National Park Service ranger and biologist, Barnes has spent more than three decades bridging ecology and culture through music and storytelling. Leader of Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots, he fuses zydeco, blues, gospel, Afro-Caribbean, and Creole traditions into a distinctly “Afro-Louisiana” sound, performing worldwide and touring with artists such as Paul Simon and Sting. His photography and writing document the living traditions of New Orleans; his book Talk That Music Talk chronicles brass band heritage through stories and images. As Big Chief, Barnes upholds the 200-year-old Mardi Gras morning ritual of the Skull and Bones Gang—honoring ancestry, mortality, and community resilience—while continuing to teach, perform, and advocate for the intertwined preservation of Louisiana’s natural and cultural landscapes.

Marion Hoang Ngoc Hill

Marion Hoang Ngoc Hill is a Vietnamese-British-French film and music director and producer based in New Orleans. Her debut feature, Ma Belle, My Beauty, won the Audience Award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically worldwide. Supported by fellowships and grants from the Sundance Institute, Universal Pictures, the Gotham, and the New Orleans Film Society, she continues to create narrative, documentary, and music works across France, Vietnam, and the U.S., with projects appearing on Hulu, Starz, Amazon, Apple, and GagaOOLala. Her recent collaboration Amongst the Disquiet with artists Tuan Andrew Nguyen and Thao Nguyen premiered at the New Orleans Museum of Art and is now featured at the São Paulo Biennale. A former classical pianist and jazz-loving oboist, she currently serves as creative director of Saigon Jazz Revival, debuting in 2025, and brings a collaborative, immersive, and spiritually grounded approach to storytelling.

Ly "Leah" Chan

Leah Chan is a shrimper, chef, and cultural preservationist whose work bridges Louisiana’s coastal traditions with her Cambodian heritage. A vendor at the Louisiana Shrimp Festival, she operates Mama Chan’s, a beloved food truck known for its authentic Asian street foods—each dish crafted from scratch using high-quality local ingredients and house-made sauces. Drawing on family recipes and Gulf-sourced seafood, Leah celebrates the deep connections between land, water, and culture, honoring both her Southeast Asian roots and her adopted Louisiana community. Through her cooking and storytelling, she works to preserve and share the culinary traditions of Cambodian and coastal foodways, offering a taste of home that speaks across generations and geographies.

Eva Tesfaye 

Eva Tesfaye covers the environment for WWNO's Coastal Desk. She is a host and reporter for the podcast Sea Change: focusing on environmental issues coastal communities, particularly along the Gulf Coast. Before joining WWNO, she reported for Harvest Public Media and the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. She was based at KCUR 89.3 in Kansas City, Missouri, where she covered agriculture, food and the environment across the Mississippi River Basin.

Zella Palmer

Zella Palmer, is an author, professor, filmmaker, curator, scholar and the Chair and Director of the Dillard University Ray Charles Program in African-American Material Culture in New Orleans, Louisiana. Palmer is committed to documenting and preserving the legacy of Afro-Diasporic, Indigenous and LatinX culinary history. As the Chair of the Dillard University Ray Charles Program, Palmer filmed and produced the (2016) Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot documentary.  In 2020, under Palmer’s leadership, she launched a Food Studies Minor at Dillard University.

Theresa Dardar

Theresa Dardar is a lifelong resident and leader of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, where she is a powerful advocate for coastal communities, tribal rights, and ecosystem protection. As president of Lowlander Center’s board, she elevates the voices of her people locally, nationally, and internationally—including at United Nations forums and indigenous rights gatherings. Theresa blends traditional knowledge with activism—championing restoration, environmental justice, and indigenous sovereignty while staying deeply connected to her bayou roots and community life.

Moderator: Dr. Aimee K. Thomas

Dr. Aimée K. Thomas is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Assistant Director for the Office of Teacher Certification at Loyola University New Orleans.  She was the Director of the Biological Sciences Learning Center.  At USM, she received the University Research Council Creative Activities Award for the informal science education programs she developed, including Night at the Museum, Discover Nature Series, Biology Trails and Survivor Biology camps, was named the Beta Beta Beta Teacher of the Year, and received the College of Science and Technology Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.  She was named a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and a Quality Enhancement Plan Fellow by USM.  At Loyola, she recently received a Bobet Fellowship for her development of an innovative first-semester biology course that uses experiential learning to teach the process of science.