Wäicuni Foundation
Before founding Wäicuni, this team worked together for five years as the program and grants staff of a private foundation, where we designed and administered 30 projects and stewarded approximately $30 million in grants to lineage communities across three continents. In 2026, at the request of the elders we serve, and in order to open this work to public and philanthropic support, we established Wäicuni Foundation as an independent 501(c)(3) public charity, carrying forward those relationships and commitments under our own governance.
It has been our great honor to study for decades with teachers from ancient lineages of the Americas and Asia.
Adishvari has spent the last two decades living with indigenous tribes, where she has been formally adopted into the Uwọttüjạ tribe of Venezuela as well as initiated in the Vaishnava tradition. She co-founded and managed a community and non-profit in Perú dedicated to ancestral traditions, then later acted as an international grants manager for a large US Private Foundation.
Gopi brings close to 20 years of experience living and working alongside Indigenous communities throughout the Amazon, Andes, and the US. Utilizing his bio-chemistry degree, he established the first charitable traditional medicine laboratory in Peru's Urubamba River Valley. He is formally adopted as a 'spiritual son' and representative of the Uwọttüjạ tribe and is initiated into the Vaishnava tradition.
Dechen Gyalmo received her degree in Anthropology with emphasis in botanical and medical studies from NMSU in 2013. Having been an apprentice in traditional cultures in North America, in Mexico, the Amazon of Peru, and now in the East in Nepal & India, she has been compiling, translating, and practicing ethnomedicine & psycho-spiritual traditions for 15 years.
Vincent Ascolese graduated from Fordham Law in NYC in 2020, and since has been avidly involved in nonprofit & international philanthropic work. Through acting as a bridge between cultural traditions and legal infrastructure, his passion is creating successful networks that together preserve global traditions.
Born in France with a University degree in Socio-Anthropology & Community Projects at the University of Quebec in Canada. For more than 20 years, this path has taken her from Guatemala to Colombia. She has collaborated on projects with the Uwọttüjạ tribe (Venezuela), the Q'ero nation (Perú), the Kogi community (Colombia) and she is also involved in the US with the Washo and Lakota people.
Raised on his Indian tribe's ancestral land, Ken Lingad's work is anchored in millennia of cultural continuity and lived experience. As a trusted advisor to former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, he represented 23 Indian tribes, nations, and pueblos across the United States and China. He is a respected authority on American Indian affairs, economic development, healthcare, cultural arts, and sovereignty dynamics.
Lancaster Pema Gawang is dedicated to preserving and promulgating the systemic requirements for human wellbeing and planetary flourishing. A cultural creative whose inquiry moves fluidly between philosophy, ecology, and the arts, he has spent the majority of his life embedded in contemplative communities and participating in regenerative agriculture projects.
He is a co-founder of PORTAL° Thermaculture, the premier social wellness company operating in Bozeman, Denver, and Minneapolis, and Austin with expansion to more cities underway. That work translates contemplative principle into durable institutions: disciplined operations, accountable stewardship, and community as the unit of health.
As President and Chairman of Wäicuni Foundation, he carries the same conviction into the Foundation's support for Indigenous and traditional lineages.
Tom Laffay is a filmmaker and visual journalist based in Colombia. His documentaries across Latin America have been featured by The New Yorker, TIME, ARTE, NatGeo, Amazon Prime, The Guardian, International Crisis Group, VICE, El Espectador, InfoAmazonia, among others. He is a three-time recipient of a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Rainforest Reporting grant, a Gabo Award Finalist and a recipient of the UC Berkeley Psychedelic Documentary Fellowship for his film Tigre Electrico documenting the Siona People's ethnopolitical struggle for survival along the Putumayo River. He works extensively in the Northwest Amazon covering conflict and indigenous rights.
Jamison DeLallo is a Movement Therapist, coach, mentor, and lifelong resident of South Lake Tahoe. For more than a decade, he has dedicated his work to helping people reconnect with their bodies, improve their health, and build greater awareness through movement.
His commitment to service extends beyond his professional work. Jamison mentors young men at Tallac High School, works with youth at the local Juvenile Treatment Center, and has volunteered with the local soup kitchen for over six years.
With a deep respect for nature, community, and the wisdom carried through generations, Jamison is honored to serve as Secretary of the Wäicuni Foundation and support its mission of preserving and promoting Native wisdom, cultural traditions, and stewardship of the natural world.
Jack Craig serves as Treasurer of the Wäicuni Foundation. His finance career spans Deer Park Road Corp, roles as an investment analyst at Steep Trees and a trading analyst at Clear Haven Capital Management, finance director of Pandemic Relief Supply, and CFO of Portal Thermaculture. He also sits on the boards of two other charitable foundations. Outside of finance, he spends his time outdoors and with friends, on rivers, forests, and mountains.