The Copper Canyon Alliance’s team includes indigenous Rarámuri leaders and U.S.-based staff with over 50 years of combined experience working with Rarámuri communities.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Will Harlan
Harlan won the Copper Canyon 50-Mile Ultramarathon in 2009 and has been running and working alongside the Tarahumara for over 15 years. He has explored all four of the Copper Canyons and worked with communities to provide seed banks, clean water, and sustainable agriculture. He is a national bestselling author, contributing writer to National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and The New York Times, senior editor of Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, and subject of the Amazon Prime documentary El Chivo, which focuses on his experiences with the Rarámuri. He also operates a nonprofit organic farm based on the Rarámuri homestead.
PROGRAM MANAGER Mickey Mahaffey
Mickey Mahaffey has spent over three decades working with the Rarámuri in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. He has organized international races and traditional events, constructed seed banks, managed seed growouts, established goat herds, and spearheaded scholarship programs for Rarámuri student-athletes. He works closely with Mexican government leaders and officials to ensure indigenous schools and communities receive the support they need, and he advocates for Rarámuri at the state and federal level. He lives most of the year in the Copper Canyons of Mexico alongside the Rarámuri.
FIELD COORDINATOR Silvino Cubesare
Silvino Cubesare is a champion Rarámuri trail runner and winner of numerous traditional and international running competitions. He is a leader of the Huisuchi community, a traditional farmer, and a truck mechanic who manages travel and transportation in the canyons. Cubesare manages our water infrastructure and serves as a Rarámuri translator and guide.
FIELD COORDINATOR Catalina Nuñez
Catalina Nuñez is a traditional Rarámuri farmer and single mother supporting a family of five. She and her family live in a cave without electricity or running water. Nuñez manages our seed growouts and seed bank construction, and she is our liaison for the Seeds to Schools Program.
FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR Dr. Emily Diznoff
Dr. Emily Diznoff is a family practice physician specializing in nutrition. She works closely with humanitarian and indigenous rights advocates to raise funds and awareness for Rarámuri communities.
COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR Stephanie Mahaffey
Stephanie Mahaffey manages the graphic design and communications for Copper Canyon Alliance. Stephanie has spent much of her life working with the Rarámuri.
HEALTH CONSULTANT AND ADVISOR Dr. Daniel Lieberman
Dr. Daniel Lieberman is a a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, where he is the Edwin M Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences and chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. Lieberman has worked closely with Rarámuri runners and led research into their running gait and nutrition. He also has led efforts to bring Rarámuri runners to the United States to participate in marathons, expert panels, and fundraising events. Lieberman is the author of the bestselling book The Story of the Human Body and Exercised.
