Prairie grew up on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in eastern Montana and is an enrolled member of the Fort Peck Sioux Tribe. She graduated from Rocky Mountain College, with a bachelor’s degree in business, and from the University of Montana, with a master’s degree in business administration. After college, she worked in Washington DC for the Department of Health and Human Services, providing contract management services to Native American communities in the lower 48 states as well as American Samoa, Alaska, and Hawaii. Additionally, she served on multiple federal review panels that successfully awarded over $5 million in governmental contracts to support economic development within native communities.

She worked for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe as the Comptroller for two years, delivering on-time audits as well as providing oversight for $34 million dollars in federal funding.

In 2011, she was a recipient of the National Center for American Indian Economic Development’s 40 Under 40 Award. This prestigious award recognizes 40 emerging American Indian leaders who have demonstrated leadership, initiative, and dedication and made significant contributions in business and their communities.

She serves on the board of directors for the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology, which encourages economic development by funding investment research projects with a clear path to commercialization.

Currently, she is the Executive Director of the American Indian Business Leader’s organization, the only native non-profit dedicated to increase the representation of American Indian students in business and entrepreneurial ventures.

In her spare time, she enjoys running, snowboarding, reading, starting new businesses, and hanging out with her family.