Wrapped in a colorful star quilt, Jodi Gillette listened to the warbles of a song written for her in the language of her ancestors.

Everyone in the softly lit restaurant stood up from their chairs and booths for the song, hands clasped respectfully. Some bowed their heads.

Monday night, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation welcomed Gillette as an honored guest at a place she lived years before the White House called.

Gillette is the Obama administration's liaison to tribal governments in her job as associate director of Intergovernmental Affairs. She is the first American Indian in the position.

Gillette's father, Dave Archambault, said he was surprised his "rez girl" was hired by what he sees as a non-Indian, lawyer-heavy federal government.

"When she went over, Itold her 'I don't think you're going to get hired,'" he said. "That they wanted somebody that knew reservations in the Obama administration really says something for her, and for him, too."

Gillette previously worked for Obama's election campaign and the Native American Training Institute in Bismarck.

She and her family have lived on several reservations, including Standing Rock.

People from four states joined a curling reception line Monday to greet Gillette and her family at the Prairie Knights Casino after a meal in her honor there.

Leaders from several tribes gave her art for her White House office, blankets and a dancer doll.

Gillette had flown home to North Dakota to speak to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association. The association is an elected group of tribal leaders from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa who met Monday and Tuesday at Standing Rock.

Gillette choked up when recalling reservation residents' efforts to help her in Obama's election campaign.

"Like me, they were tired of the way things were, and they were tired of … people that think that we as Indian people are no longer relevant in today's political discussions," she said. "We do have relevancy."

She urged American Indians to look in their own communities for solutions to the needs she sees.

Gillette's work with the Native American Training Institute took her to meetings with tribes across the country, Archambault said.

"She walked in our shoes, she knows how we live here on the reservation," said Sissy Goodhouse, Gillette's aunt. "She's continuously worked for the good of our people and our nation."

Goodhouse said Gillette honors the traditional way of life. She's a champion traditional dancer and encourages the passing of customs and knowledge from one generation to the next, Goodhouse said.

Now she's in the position to help shape policy with American Indian values in mind.

Archambault said he couldn't guess what developments will come of it, but anticipates they will be good with Gillette's input.

"We speak for our tribes," said Janet Thomas, executive director for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. "She speaks for all of Indian Country."

(Reach reporter Rachel Albin at 250-8253 or rachel.albin@;bismarcktribune.com.)