FASHION FOR A CAUSE

Now more than ever, small businesses are struggling through the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, these standout Indigenous womenowned fashion businesses are not only thriving and surviving during the Pandemic, but they're continuing to contribute to the community through the chaos. We interview four Indigenous female business owners about their companies, how they continue to incorporate their culture into products, their contributions to various causes in their communities, and how they’re surviving in the Pandemic.

BY KELLY HOLMES

Founder Emilce Paez

ELLA

Twenty-eight-year-old Emilce Paez is the founder of ELLA Totes. This company works with Indigenous women from Peru to create beautiful, high-quality tote bags to improve their quality of life through jobs, skills, and adequate housing. Proceeds of every bag sold go towards hand-picked charities that focus on developing entrepreneurial skills to solidify their business plans, independence, and personal empowerment. ELLA'S humble beginnings started in 2014 after Paez visited Peru, where she saw women selling their beautifully crafted designs for less than three dollars to provide for their families. Through ELLA, Latin American craftswomen create organic, eco-friendly bags and accessories as go-to timeless pieces that honor their past and help pave a brighter future for them and their families, while encouraging sustainability and support in Latin America.

About the Founder

My name is Emilce Paez, and I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina but was raised in Mendoza, north/west of Argentina. At the age of six, my parents decided to move to San Diego, California, searching for the American dream. I love San Diego; it will always be home. I majored in graphic design and advertisement at San Diego State University, and during my sophomore year of college, I took a trip to Peru, which is where the story of ELLA all began.

About ELLA

For every ELLA product designed, whether it's our bags or hats, our ultimate goal is to help women and girls worldwide. We also support Latin American craftsmanship by bringing a piece of Latin American culture into our products. Our Alpaca hats are made entirely in Bolivia from alpaca fur; our Bolso Yute is also wholly made in Peru, handstitched by women in Lima; our Gaucho bracelets are made in Argentina by an artisanal family; and finally, our canvas-like bags are made here at home in downtown Los Angeles.

Charities and Causes ELLA Gave Back to

ELLA was founded in June of 2019, and I can't believe it's already been a year. We were able to donate $1,000 last year to girls in Peru (@peruvianhearts), in Panama (@transformadoras), in Argentina (@Mujeres2000), and Los Angeles (@

Alpaca hats

ELLA totebag

Photos: courtesy

alexandriahousela). These organizations provide the tools necessary for women in vulnerable situations to discover their passions in hopes of a better future for themselves and their children. This year ELLA supports Days for Girls who provide menstrual kits and sex education to girls all around the world who don't have easy access to hygiene products. We were so glad to hop on board with them this year and be part of this amazing project that has helped many girls, especially in refugee camps.

The Idea Behind ELLA

Although it took almost five years to start ELLA after my college trip to Peru, I never forgot those women selling their beautiful garments and designs for not even three dollars worth. I wanted to use my design skills somehow to bring awareness to the potential these women had. Although I am from Argentina, my heart always resonated with these Peruvian women. Latin America but women throughout the world! We share the stories of the women whose lives have been changed through the organizations we support. Most of them come from abusive or poor lifestyles and having a workshop or a supportive group that brings hope and, more importantly, a brighter future is how ELLA showcases their beauty.

ELLA Overcomes the Pandemic

Yes, COVID-19 has affected us a bit financially, but luckily we have supporters who continue to share our stories and products, which is what all that matters to us at the end of the day. Making a difference in our world, especially in these times and maybe bringing awareness starts. At ELLA, we are inspired by how things are done. We are not creating a brand to fill up shelves, but we aim to positively change these women and girls; the lives of ELLA.

Shop ELLA totes and other accessories at ELLATOTEBAGS.COM.

Photos: courtesy

Her Braids

Who knew such a small beaded pendant could bring such awareness and change for clean drinking water. Sunshine Quem Tenasco, Anishinabe from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, Quebec, and her company, Her Braids, do just that. Kitigan Zibi, (also known as River Desert) is a First Nations reserve of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation. Heartbreakingly, Kitigan Zibi has gone without clean drinking water for a total of fifteen years. Tenasco, a mom of four, is a busy bee, always having a few projects on-the-go at all times. Five years ago, she started Her Braids, a small business that creates small, intricately-beaded vibrant pendants in various geometric shapes. Her Braids is committed to donating 10% of profits directly towards the David Suzuki Foundation’s Blue Dot Movement, a national grassroots campaign based on the idea that everyone in Canada deserves the right to a healthy environment, ultimately seeking to amend the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to include the right to a healthy environment. With Her Braids, Tenasco is committed to making clean drinking water in First Nations communities a reality, one pendant at a time. Tenasco also started Pow Wow Pitch, a platform that provides a safe, supportive, collaborative, empowering, and culturally supportive environment that addresses Indigenous entrepreneurs’ unique challenges and aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs.

About Her Braids

Her Braids started as a nine-month project for the David Suzuki Foundation’s project called “The Blue Dot” movement, aiming to make clean water a Human Right in Canada. It was supposed to be a fundraiser to bring awareness about this urgent water crisis through beaded pendants’ sales. I’ve continued to slowly grow Her Braids into giving workshops, writing “Nibi’s Water Song,” and creating some apparel to educate people about clean water further.

The Motivation Behind Her Braids

Roughly 40% of my community still doesn’t have clean water. We live right beside a non-Indigenous town where everyone has access. We are a mere 1.5 hours away from Parliament, where all the decisions are made. It made me wonder why we don’t have equal access to this fundamental human right. Once I started researching, I discovered that many First Nations communities in Canada were in similar positions. I felt like I could be a little help and educate people the best way I knew how, through beadwork. Her Braids was born.

All About Beading

We always beaded in our community. We’d all go to the cultural center as kids and make things, and reflect on what we were creating with our bare hands. We’d learn about it different Nations and their specific styles. So I mostly play with beads. Sometimes I love what I create. Sometimes I don’t, and it sits in my beading drawer. But I mostly appreciate the calmness that beading brings.

Giving Back & Contributing to the Community with Her Braids

Every year we donate to the Blue Dot movement. We keep our goal very clear: to be a tiny part of the water warrior community. We give clean water workshops for both beading and reading “Nibi’s Water Song” for younger children.

Switching Gears to Survive the Pandemic

For Her Braids, a large portion of my work is giving workshops. Since COVID-19, everything has been canceled for months. So although this was scary, my other project, Pow Wow Pitch, has expanded to a national level.

Taking Action

I want to encourage anyone who wants to help to be a part of the water crisis solution just to get started. Do what you are capable of doing, and that’s good enough. And remember, the government doesn’t create change. The government responds to change, so create change and keep talking about important issues.

Shop and support Her Braids at HERBRAIDS.COM.

Indigenous Intentions

Founder Tomasina Chupco

Afro-Indigenous-owned and operated jewelry brand Indigenous Intentions serves multiple purposes, all geared towards intentions of increasing awareness for Indigenous and womxn causes. Founder Tomasina Chupco, Seminole from southern Florida, heads the jewelry brand to make an impact and invest back into the community with traditional jewelry with a modern twist. Communities helping and giving back to communities is the goal of Indigenous Intentions.

About Indigenous Intentions

Indigenous Intentions is Afro-Indigenous-owned and designed. We are a cause jewelry brand created with the intention of increasing awareness for Indigenous and womxn causes. Our advocacy background drives our passion for giving back to Indigenous and African American communities. Jewelry is a beautiful part of our Indigenous culture. What better way to make an impact and invest back into the community than by launching collections with a philanthropist initiative: #MoreThanABracelet. We love creating traditional jewelry with a modern twist. Indigenous Intentions supports Indigenous and womxn artisans and designers worldwide. Indigenous Intentions donates 10% of proceeds from our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn (MMIW) Jewelry Collections to MMIWUSA.

About the Jewelry

We make jewelry that has a modern twist to traditional jewelry, cause-awareness jewelry for organizations, and some pieces that initiate the thought processes of decolonization. One purpose Indigenous Intentions serves is contributing to the MMIW cause.

Giving Back & Contributing to the Community with Indigenous Intentions

We believe in investing back into the community, so we help fund numerous projects such as some of the protests and for COVID-19 relief: StrongHearts Native Helpline, Indigenous Peoples Movement, Unicorn Riot, Black Visions Collective, COVID-19 Navajo Relief, National Indigenous Women Resource Center (NIWRC), and MMIWUSA.

Thriving & Growing during the Pandemic

At the beginning of the pandemic, we were affected, but we have been more creative than ever. It’s helping us grow our business because we have more time to design and research causes in need during this time.

Keeping Up with Indigenous Intentions

Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Etsy. We sometimes have a pay-what-you-can sale to make our items affordable for everyone. We also have occasional giveaways. We are working on a special project to help women feel safer and another project for our Black sisters.

Ahlazua Fine Arts

A multi-talented fine artist, Rykelle Kemp’s vast array of creations and jewelry, serve multiple purposes besides sharing Indigenous cultures and stories with the world; they contributed to the community. In addition to her first artistic expression, printmaking, Kemp found her creative passion for jewelry making and design in 2015. Kemp’s current works of art represent the knowledge she has attained through her studies of her tribes of the southwest and the southeast United States. She is a Mvskoke Creek Nation member, and her tribes include Choctaw, Euchee-Mvskoke Creek, and Diné. She works out of her home studio, where she produces her mono-silk screen prints, mix-medium artworks, and metalwork.

About the Founder

I’m a full-time artist and have been for the past five years. I started my creative path through fine arts, specifically printmaking and mixed medium art, around 2002. Since then, I have been doing art markets and gallery shows, showing my monotype prints, mono-silkscreen prints, and mixed medium original pieces. After realizing that I was passionate about making jewelry, I decided to start my small business, Ahlazua-Indigenous Woman Made, around two to three years ago. That has grown to include other handmade goods such as journals, masks, t-shirts, and fun stuff like art stickers and pins. My ideas keep growing and developing into new projects and goods.

Founder Rykelle Kent

my moniker because, in all actuality, it is my name too. Ahlazua is a Euchee name given to me by my grandma Josephine and my great aunt Awie when I was a baby. My Euchee and Choctaw side of my family had always felt distant since I grew up in Arizona and didn’t travel to Oklahoma too often. So when it came time to name my business, I wanted to honor my Euchee name.

How Ahlazua shares the beauty of Indigenous culture and heritage with the world

I believe our culture is inherently beautiful, so of course, I love to make things that are shiny, sparkly, and pretty to look at and feels good to wear. But lately, I’ve been thinking, “how can I make something beautiful or thought-provoking that speaks about my heritage or Indigenous issues in today’s space, to be seen and heard?” Besides making beautiful pieces, I want to make things that mean something, because we as Indigenous people are still here creating and adding onto our narratives. I want to make sure that the things I make encapsulate that idea and sentiment. Our culture is beautiful, and artists and creatives are here to be the storytellers. I want to make my ancestors proud.

Giving Back & Contributing to the Community with Ahlazua

I think giving back to your community is very important. My parents instilled that in me at a young age. For the past two years, I’ve been the co-chair for the Phoenix Indian Center’s annual fundraising event Silver & Turquoise Ball. I also saw the opportunity to support other organizations through my platform too. I am not, by all means, the biggest business, but I give what I can. These organizations are the ones I’ve been donating to currently: Navajo & Hopi COVID Relief Fund, LGBTQ Freedom Fund, Migizi Minneapolis, and Diné Pride Nááts’ íílid Rainbow Scholarship. I recently came across this great organization that supports Indigenous youth and mental health called the ‘We Matter Campaign.’ I honestly wish they had something like this when I was younger. They have videos of other Indigenous youth, artists, politicians, athletes, etc., speaking to the camera in videos letting the youth know they are worthy and loved. They also provide counseling and other services.

Being creative and taking care of the family during the Pandemic

As a full-time artist, I would be getting home right about now from traveling to Santa Fe Indian Art Market and all the other shows I do during the summer. But instead, like others, I am home trying to focus on other creative ways to keep my sales up. I am so thankful to be with my family; I feel like the household protector since my parents and brother have underlying health issues. They are my number one priority right now, keeping them healthy. I’m just so lucky that they are all artists, so it feels like one big collaborative artistin-residency program.

Shop Ahlazua Fine Arts at NATIVEWOMANMADE.COM.