YWCA Women of Achievement awards: Kalispel Tribe career director Colene Rubertt shows young people what they can do

Colene Rubertt was impressed by the warmth and caring of the Kalispel Tribe long before she began working there. Her work with the tribe as the director of special projects and director of career training, impacting everything from workforce training to the tribal food bank, is being recognized with the 2024 YWCA Women of Achievement Business and Industry award.

The Women of Achievement award winners will be honored during a luncheon set for 11 a.m. Friday at the Spokane Convention Center. Tickets are $135 and can be purchased online at ywcaspokane.org/2024-woa-honorees.

Shantel Wardrop, marketing manager for the Kalispel Tribe, has known Rubertt for a decade and has been impressed with her drive.

“Colene is a problem solver, and she thinks outside the box,” Wardrop said. “She’s really passionate about our community. She’s very caring and a good all-around human being.”

Rubertt’s focus on helping tribal youth is also apparent, Wardrop said.

“She’s really good at advising them, supporting them, being a cheerleader for them,” she said. “She’s the mom in your corner, even if you don’t think you need one.”

Rubertt grew up in Spokane and graduated from Freeman High School. She earned an interdisciplinary studies degree in 1993 from Eastern Washington University, where she also studied criminal justice and government.

Rubertt had originally thought about a career in law enforcement, but found herself taking a different path. While she was in college, she worked as a lifeguard at the YWCA. Later, she applied to be a lifeguard at the Morning Star Boys Ranch. She worked her way up to development director before leaving to become the executive director of Inland Northwest Camp Fire. She then worked as the executive director of the Morning Star Foundation.

In 2008, Rubertt’s husband died unexpectedly at a young age. She had previously worked with the Kalispel Tribe on some events while she worked for Morning Star. Hearing about her husband’s death, members of the tribe stepped up to provide food for her husband’s funeral. She said she was touched by their support and sense of community and knew that one day she wanted to work for the tribe.

“It makes you take a look at how short life is,” she said of her husband’s death. “From that day, I started watching jobs with the tribe.”

About 10 years ago, the director of career training job opened up. When she interviewed for the position, she didn’t know any of her interviewers.

“Everyone I worked with before were on the charitable side,” she said. “The tribe has several arms. I didn’t even bring it up in the interview.”

Though her interviewers didn’t know about her previous link to the tribe, she was hired and quickly set about making an impact. She oversees the Kalispel Career Training Center, offering paid apprenticeship programs in skilled trades such as welding, fabrication and carpentry. Enrollment has increased in recent years, including of women, and Rubertt said her goal is to help young adults see what opportunities are out there for them.

Rubertt is also in charge of Kalispel Metal Products and Case Line, which does custom fabrication products as well as aluminum gun cases. Experienced welders and fabricators work with apprentices enrolled in the Kalispel Career Training Center.

“Last year we were able to hire a student from the previous class,” she said.

She also took on the role of director of special projects three years ago to oversee things like housing.

“There were some larger projects the tribe wanted to do internally,” she said.

Those projects included new playgrounds and a basketball court.

“The playground and the basketball court, now that they’re done, are awesome,” she said.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she expanded the Kalispel Kupboard, the tribal food bank. She got grants to help pay for food and dairy items.

Rubertt was nominated for the award by Curt Holmes, vice chair of the Kalispel Tribe, who wrote about her positive impact on the tribe.

“To be a woman, continuously inspiring other women in traditionally male-dominated roles in government, manufacturing and education is reason enough to celebrate her,” he wrote.

Rubertt said she was surprised and humbled to learn about the award.

“I don’t see what I do as extraordinary,” she said. “I am by no means the only female who works for the tribe who inspires others.”

She said she has attended the YWCA Women of Achievement luncheon for years and is proud to be counted among the award winners.

“Those were women I worked with and thought of as mentors,” she said of the previous winners.