Indigenous Entrepreneur

Megan Schnitker is the owner of Lakota Made, founder of the Mahkato Revitalization Project, and a frequent contributor to American Indian events at Minnesota State Mankato.

Megan Schnitker can be found every year at American Indian Night at Minnesota State Mankato, an event that celebrates both traditional and contemporary American Indian values and culture. An Indigenous entrepreneur herself, she’s been a panelist, helped coordinate presenters and events behind the scenes, and had a booth for her business, Lakota Made of Mankato.

“I like helping promote the American Indian programs and events. It helps bring the community and students together,” said Schnitker, who is also the founder and executive director of the Mahkato Revitalization Project, a nonprofit that promotes indigenous arts, culture and education. Schnitker’s business in Old Town hosts American Indian interns and volunteers from the University who get the experience of learning plant medicine from an Indigenous herbalist and longtime teacher of Dakota and Lakota culture. Schnitker studied plant medicine under family members while growing up in Ta Sanpi Oyanke (Milks Camp) of the Sicangu Oyate in South Dakota, as well as under Lakota elders as an adult.

The results of her lifelong learning can be seen on the tables and shelves of Lakota Made, which sells salves, tinctures and teas made from locally harvested plants from area fields. She has worked with farmers and the Department of Natural Resources to identify areas to harvest. She’s the first Lakota woman to own a store in Old Town.

Mankato Land Acknowledgment: holds significance as a cultural and spiritual place for the Dakota Peoples and connects to their vibrant cultures, traditions and ways of life. we are

We acknowledge that we live and thrive in Mahkato (mah-KAH-toh), the traditional homeland of the Dakota (dah-KO-tah) Nation and other Indigenous Peoples.