Vicki D’Amico was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1956. She was mainly raised by her mother and was the youngest of three sisters. Vicki followed a friend when she was only 18 years old to Sitka, Alaska.

Vicki’s first job in Sitka was at the  Sitka Native Education Program (SNEP), supervised and mentored by clan mother Isabella Brady. She later befriended the Brady family and was adopted into the Kids’adi clan. In 1988, she began her career at Sitkans Against Family Violence (SAFV) as a relief advocate. She quickly became a full-time advocate and during the next 33 years, she performed almost every job at SAFV before retiring as executive director in 2017. During her time at SAFV, she was solely on-call for crises and emergencies for many years.

Vicki was a proficient legal advocate, and helped countless survivors navigate the very intimidating legal system. She pioneered the work of trauma informed care before it was widely talked about or understood. As a survivor of domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) herself, she innately understood the needs of survivors. She worked to create a shelter environment that was empowering rather than punitive for the shelter residents at SAFV.

Vicki was an engaging educator, and worked over many years to provide education to community partners on the dynamics of dv and as.  She received a fellowship in Child Trauma Intervention from the Yale University Medical School. She valued Tribal practices, and worked closely with Sitka Tribe of Alaska where she was admitted into the bar in Tribal Court.

Vicki is still renowned as one of the best DV/SA advocates in the state of Alaska. In April, 2023 at the Yaaw Koo.eex’ (Herring Ceremony) she was honored for her work as a protector of women and children and became caretaker of a herring robe.