2004 GREAT WOMEN OF GAMING
Proven leader
Delia Carlyle
Chairwoman
Arizona Indian Gaming Association
Delia Carlyle has spent her life watching
communities and cities grow and
change around her. She has also spent
much of it helping to drive that growth. "I
grew up on the Ak-Chin Indian
Community reservation," says Carlyle,
"which, at that time, was far away from
metropolitan Phoenix. Now the cities are
coming much closer to us, but I like to
call Ak-Chin the most 'non-metro' of the
metro Tribes."
If there's one thing that Carlyle is
known for, it's community service; and
according to her, that's because the value
of it was impressed upon her early. "My
aunt taught me about giving back to my
community and the larger community,"
Carlyle says. "She told me, 'We have to
serve when we are asked to serve. It is an
honor.' I have been fortunate in that
I have been asked to serve my community."
Besides her capacity at the AIGA,
Carlyle currently serves as vice chairman
of the Ak-Chin Indian Community, and
was formerly the chairman. She is
Director of the Ak-Chin Indian
Community Center, where she has
worked since in 1978, and where she has
created and implemented programs for
housing, health, transportation, social
services, education, and community
development. In 1981 she played a major
role in establishing the Community's
Elderly Program. She has served locally
as the Ak-Chin Indian Community's representative
on a number of boards and
committees; on a state level, she was
appointed by Governor Rose Moffard to
the Tribal Workforce Investment Board
and the Arizona Indian Council on Aging;
and she was appointed to the National
Indian Health Board. It is hard to believe
Carlyle has any extra time. But she also
serves as a board member and clerk of
the Maricopa Unified School District, and
sits on the Maricopa Precinct Election
Board as she has for over 15 years. A
member of the American Juvenile
Diabetes Association, Carlyle is also a
nurse's aid and was a CMT for many
years.
Yet, despite all that, Carlyle believes
that her greatest achievements are her
children and grandchildren. "As a mother
and grandmother, I am completely comfortable
in my role," she says. "Possibly
my own comfort level has served me well
as I have not experienced any discrimination
by either Native or non-Natives in
this industry."
In fact, Carlyle sees gaming as a
hotbed of opportunity for women. "The
world of Tribal governmental gaming is a
wonderful avenue to provide for the
needs of tribal people who have not had
these opportunities," she says. "I think
that as we see women attain more positions
of power in their Tribes, we will see
more women reaching out to the gaming
industry. As you know, women can and
do attain leadership positions in Indian
Country. As we become more comfortable
and familiar with gaming, I expect to
see more women in executive positions. I
certainly recommend this industry as a
career path to young women."
Despite the optimism, Carlyle does
offer a caveat. "Like any industry women
go into, we need to start with the premise
that we must do things better than our
male counterparts," she says. "We need
to take more initiative, have more commitment,
show more dedication and
work harder and smarter than men. This
is changing as more women get into top
positions, but we aren't there yet."
That might be a challenge, but Carlyle
does not let it interfere with her commitment
to family, or her sense of humor. "At
the same time, we cannot ignore our roles
as wives, mothers, aunts and grandmothers.
Good thing that we ladies are multitaskers,"
she says. "I wish it were different,
but we women still need to keep
more plates spinning then do men. And I
think this will probably continue to be
the case until we get our own 'wives' to
do all that other work for us!"
Copyright 2011, Great Women of Gaming. All rights reserved.
