BUSINESS
DREAM CATCHER—
DREAM MAKER By Theresa Peters
She’s a mother, foster mom and entrepreneur with two thriving businesses; she lives life with relish and has immense dreams to impact the Indigenous community. Michelle Cameron, of Peguis First Nation, has her hands and heart full. She is relentlessly moving forward, breaking barriers and setting milestones for Indigenous business owners to follow in her footsteps. “I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart,” Cameron says in an interview with SAY Magazine, and her commitment to constant improvement, success and giving back is a testament to her endurance and hard work. Setting Records
Today she owns Dream Catcher Promotions, the largest First Nation promotions company in Canada (with a new USA branch as well) and Indigenous Nations Apparel Company (INAC). When INAC opened its store in Polo Park, a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it became the very first Indigenous-owned and operated business to ever be in any of the Cadillac-Fairview properties (think of the TD Centre, Eaton’s Centre, Pacific Centre, Chinook Centre and many others).
Breaking Barriers
Dream Catcher Promotions opened its doors in 2011 in a 750-square-foot storefront after Cameron saw a need for custom embroidery and got a grant to 6 | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
Michelle Cameron
buy an embroidery machine. Had she ever used one before? No, but that did not stop her. And she was not about to let the unraveling of a global pandemic stop her either! Due to COVID-19, Cameron pivoted the business to online sales to pay the rent on the newly acquired 3,500-square-foot location in the Swan Lake Office in Headingley, Manitoba. Cameron is always looking for ways to meet the needs of her audience. Dream Catcher Promotions creates designs for corporations, but there was still a need in the industry for a space for Indigenous artists to design and print their own unique designs for clothing. This need birthed the idea for INAC in 2021—yes, in the middle of the pandemic. INAC not
