Kristen's Iñupiaq name is Atluk. Her family roots are in the Selawik region in the Northwest Arctic Borough. She has spent most of their time on the ancestral lands of the Dene' people of Lower Tanana River in Fairbanks, Alaska. Kristen and her husband are raising their two teenage daughters in North Pole. Kristen graduated from Iḷisaġvik College, Alaska's only tribal college, with an Associate of Science in Allied Health in 2022. She is an undergraduate research scholar with the BLaST Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks - Troth Yeddha' Campus. Kristen conducts CASC-related research in the Ichthyology and Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Museum of the North under the mentorship of Dr. Andrés López and Dr. Erik Schoen. She is a Caleb Scholars Program fellow, supported by Kawerak, Inc., in Inuit-led conservation advocacy. Kristen will graduate in May 2025 with a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Environmental Change and Fisheries.