Daniel W. Vandever

Daniel Vandever (Diné) is an award-winning author and entrepreneur from Haystack, NM. He is the CEO of South of Sunrise Creative, a strategic communications firm that helps advance higher education initiatives through community-based solutions.

 Vandever is a product of Small Wonders Day Care where his experiences as a Ninja Turtle helped shape the creativity behind his debut picture book, Fall in Line, Holden!, a 2018 Honor Book for the American Indian Youth Literature Award. His follow up picture book, Herizon (2021), was self-published and was recognized as the Best Picture Book of 2022 by the American Indian Library Association.

 Vandever received his undergraduate degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Missouri and a Master’s in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico. Vandever is the grandson of the late Joe Vandever Sr., Navajo Code Talker, USMC, and Bessie D. Vandever.