Talking DJing, Indigenous entrepreneurship, politics and being two-spirited with DJ O Show's Orene Askew of the Squamish Nation. I've known Orene for many years and she is always up to something exciting! This woman is a force of positivity and spreading joy around through her musical talent, encouraging change using her leadership skills and a passion for supporting others in pursuing their dreams. Whether it is the events that she's DJing at, the youth conferences she publi

Melanie Rivers is an Indigenous business owner who had a dream of starting and operating her own business about three years ago. I met Melanie in one of the marketing classes that I teach at the Squamish Nation in North Vancouver, B.C., and immediately knew she was destined for greatness. She was a sponge for any knowledge that could help her start and launch her online art training company, Melanie Rivers Art (www.melanierivers.ca). I had a strong sense she'd be fully commit

The BC Indigenous Business Gala 2019 hosted by the BC Achievement Foundation on October 17th was an evening filled with high energy and lots of inspiration that began with the Squamish Nation canoe family performing at the opening ceremony. The Squamish Nation had two tables of member entrepreneurs and nation management attending to celebrate the achievements of one very determined member and young Indigenous entrepreneur, Paul Natrall of Mr. Bannock, in addition to Indigenou

Congratulations to another one of our star Indigenous business training participants and entrepreneurs, Paul Natrall, Mr. Bannock of the Squamish Nation whose commitment to learning and persevering has resulted in outstanding business achievement and winning this year's BC Indigenous Business Awards in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category. Paul will be the sixth entrepreneur to win an award since we started the business training program in 2012 at the Squamish Nation.

It was such a pleasure teaching and sharing knowledge, stories and experiences at the Indigenous Youth Career Workshop recently in the Squamish Valley. I worked with fourteen high energy Squamish Nation young people who are venturing into the world of adulting and going after what they want in life and their careers. We had an excellent turnout thanks to SN Valley Department Head, Mara Williams who organized the event, reaching out to the community consistently months before

We had the recent pleasure of interviewing another exciting Indigenous entrepreneur on the rise! Chef Paul Natrall, of Mr. Bannock is winning "top cuisine" contests worldwide and has been featured in the news quite a bit since he started his food truck and catering business, www.mrbannock.com, two short years ago in North Vancouver. Paul attended a marketing class taught by Loa of Activ8 Training at the Squamish Nation and it's been exciting watching him exponentially grow hi

Small business owners and managers from the Squamish Nation participated in our First Nations Social Media Workshop in December to learn about the many ways that they can connect with their target audience online to form community around their brands and attract new business. Participants were eager to gather new tools in online communication such as how to use www.Hootsuite.com as a social media dashboard, what type of content gets the most attention, which social websites a

After completing the Aboriginal B.E.S.T. course and getting their business idea off the ground with knowledge around how to research the market and write a business plan, Indigenous entrepreneurs from the Squamish Nation who are starting and operating businesses participated in a sales course, taught by Loa Fridfinnson of Activ8, as part of the Indigenous small business training program. Students' products and services ranged from apparel to organic soaps, a mobile spa, weavi

We are proud to announce that we gained a wonderful opportunity to work with the B.C. provincial government on delivering valuable business education to the Squamish Nation; and introducing our entrepreneur training program to three new nations: Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Kwikwetlem First Nations. With over 200 budding and existing entrepreneurs, Activ8 rolled-out courses that helped to guide peoples' passions leading to more self employment and business growth for local ab

We are super excited to be offering this training. In order to be successful in business, and in life for that matter, one needs to have a healthy confidence level and effective communication skills. Our latest course was designed to give our students the knowledge and tools to become their best self in order to go after their goals and enhance their lives. We are debuting the course at the Squamish Nation this month! For other nations who may be interested, we'll come t