Everyone comes from somewhere, says Julie Tumamait-Stenslie.

"Everybody started out in a land, in a place where they have their own special stories, songs, way of life, clothing, religious beliefs," the Ojai woman says.

For the Chumash descendent, telling the stories and ways of her people has become a way of life. Tumamait-Stenslie shares her family's traditions — mostly learned from her father — through song and storytelling during cultural presentations.

She spreads her knowledge of Chumash culture at elementary schools from Ojai to Camarillo, and up through the university level. She presides over tribal ceremonies, such as weddings, burials, naming ceremonies and blessings.

Serving on state board

In November, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose her to serve on the state Native American Heritage Commission, where she and the other eight members are charged with making decisions about activities that encroach on the sacred tribal lands of California's American Indians. She attended the first meeting Jan. 26.

The commission locates "most likely descendents" of a particular tribe whose lands are threatened. "If we know a project will destroy a sacred site, we can go through the Heritage Commission to try to stop it, and if possible bring a lawsuit," she said.

Tumamait-Stenslie, 51, also has worked as a cultural resources consultant from Malibu to Santa Barbara to the Channel Islands, providing guidance for public and private groups, including the state Department of Transportation and Ventura and Santa Barbara counties' district attorney's offices. That job involves being present at archaeological digs or transportation projects where burial sites or other sacred grounds might be located so she can help oversee the handling of artifacts or remains.

Her family's history can be traced to villages on Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands, to as far north as San Luis Obispo County and as far south as Malibu, and throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Her grandfather Juan de Jesus Tumamait, born in 1811, was one of the few Chumash people to keep his surname rather than getting a Spanish name from Catholic missionaries, she said. Carrying on that name is one of many ways she keeps in touch with her heritage.

Relating in an ancient way

Tumamait-Stenslie is working to learn and preserve the Chumash language, known as Hokan. She is concentrating her efforts on one of seven dialects — the one spoken most commonly in her family's ancestral villages.

The hard work of learning a language binds her closer to her ancestors, she said. "To learn the names of the mountains and our sacred places, the trees, the animals, and to be able to relate to them in that ancient way to me is very fulfilling and exciting."

Joe Talaugon, chairman of the elders board at the Santa Ynez Reservation, said Tumamait-Stenslie is one of many Chumash people carrying on the culture. "We all do it in our own way, and she's got a very unique way of doing it," he said, calling her "a very good storyteller."

"Sometimes, because of our history, a lot of it gets lost through the years, and she's been the type of person who has kept it alive," Talaugon said.

It is perhaps the simplicity of the lessons taught in Chumash culture, gleaned from a simpler time, that draws Tumamait-Stenslie to study more, she said.

"We all come from some tribe," she said. "People call them clans or bands, or there are other terms. It's just when people crossed over the ocean and got here, they wanted to leave all that behind. But there are parts of us, genetics, that won't let us. You can't cut if off completely."