Women of the Year honoree Cheryl Horn fights for Indigenous women | USA TODAY

Cheryl Horn joined the fight for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women when her niece, Selena Not Afraid, went missing from Hardin, Montana in 2020.

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Cheryl Horn routinely receives calls in the middle of the night from frightened and frantic parents. They are often sobbing. Sometimes they can't get the words out. But she knows the painful query: "My daughter is missing. What should we do?"

Overnight, Horn became an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women. While searching for her niece, she initiated social media campaigns, organized search parties, printed flyer after flyer and galvanized and educated her community and beyond about the plight of unsolved crimes involving Native people.

Native Americans comprise 6.7% of Montana's population, yet they account for, on average, 26% of the state's active missing persons cases.

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