Ah-Shi Dine Nation Beauty Studio & Gift Shop
A
By Chuck Van Drunen
hsaki Chachere commutes nearly 80 miles each day from Beshbitoh Valley to Gallup to tend to her new downtown business: Ah-Shi Dine Nation Beauty Studio & Gift Shop, a speciality cosmetic business tailored for Native American skin tones. Ahsaki went to High School in Ganado and, due to additional online courses at home, was able to graduate early at the age of 17. With ambitions of a medical career, she attended the University of Arizona and delved deeply into her chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology classes. But she returned home to the reservation when her mom, a sheepherder by trade, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Taking a job in water management, helping her mom, and still finishing her college studies, she was able to take her medical school MCAT exams which she passed with flying colors…and her mother fully recovered from her cancer and has now worked for the Navajo Nation Judicial Branch for over three decades. Ahsaki’s dad was also there to help through these times, George LaFrance, who is currently athletic director at Navajo Technical University. George in his younger years played Arena Football and then served as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers in the 1980s. With her family stable, Ahsaki, instead of taking one of the many offers to pursue a graduate medical program, changed her mind and earned graduate degrees from Southern New Hampshire University with degrees in sports management, accounting, and international finance. She soon met her husband, Dennis Chachere, and moved to Houston, TX, where she managed a Holland bases soccer club called Youth Dutch Lines. Yet, throughout the past decade, Ahsaki had been working in the background with a simmering passion to create quality cosmetics for Native skin tones. When taking care of her mother back in Beshbitoh, she found it hard to find cosmetics that were chemical free, attractive, and plant based. So she began the long process to create what did not exist in the market. While working with a soccer team and doing other jobs, Ahsaki developed her product line and started web sales. In the middle of all this, Ahsaki had to overcome the unwelcome reality of ovarian cancer… twice. Once healthy again, she decided it was time to
46
March 2020
