Tonia Sing Chi, RA, NOMA

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DESIGN & CO-FOUNDER

Projects: The Sweat Equity Homes Project, Walking With Dinétah

Growing up in a first-generation Taiwanese and Chinese immigrant family, Tonia was deeply influenced by collectivist values, always seeing herself and her work in relation to others. The enriching, yet dissonant experience of her cross-cultural upbringing galvanized her to advocate for spaces that reflect diverse stories and cultivate a sense of belonging for people who have been othered and invisibilized by structural exclusion. Tonia’s commitment to building coalitions between Indigenous and diasporic communities stems from her belief that the struggle for racial justice, immigrant justice, and Indigenous sovereignty are interconnected.

Tonia received a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Columbia University GSAPP, where her graduate thesis investigated the ethics and dynamics of collaborative design partnerships in Tribal housing projects that perpetuated earthen architectural traditions. It was her thesis work that first brought her to Dinétah, where she reconnected with José and was introduced to Carmi. Deeply inspired by their work on the Dennehotso Sweat Equity Housing Project with DesignBuildBLUFF, Tonia became part of Nááts'íilid Initiative, where she works at the intersection of architecture, preservation, and placekeeping to create opportunities for self-determination, collective expression, healing, and belonging. She also brings a passion for fabrication and self-reliance skills, having worked as a natural builder in earthen and lime plastering, a fine woodworker, a fabrication shop mechanician, and a subsistence farmer. Previously, she taught community design-build and furniture making at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design and has partnered with several non-profit organizations advocating for food justice and housing security in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ohlone territory, where she is from. Tonia fell in love with nixtamalization and nixtamal while exploring different uses of builder’s lime. She enjoys growing heirloom corn varieties and teaching workshops on corn tortilla making.

tonia@naatsiilid.org | LinkedIn