Venture Out Podcast
New Podcast Celebrates Northern Indigenous Entrepreneurs
Yellowknife, NT (May 26, 2021) A brand-new podcast from EntrepreNorth celebrates the innovation and tenacity of Northern Indigenous entrepreneurs who are paving the path forward.
Titled “Venture Out”, the show is created and produced by EntrepreNorth, a project of MakeWay based in Yellowknife that focuses on empowering Indigenous and community-based entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses and livelihoods across Northern Canada.
Season one of Venture Out features hour-long episodes profiling Indigenous entrepreneurs from across the North who are creating new pathways for cultural reclamation, community wellbeing, and shared economic abundance in ways that honour the rich Indigenous histories of the North.
Featured businesses include language education, wearable art, tourism, event production, and even boudoir photography. Listeners will discover the entrepreneur’s inspiring (at times challenging) journey and explore different ways of thinking about entrepreneurship; particularly how it’s being redefined in Northern communities.
Episode guests include Leena Evic, President and Founder of The Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, NU; Joella Hogan, Owner of the yukon soaps company in Mayo, YT; Tania Larsson, Owner of Tania Larsson Jewellery in Yellowknife, NWT; Nooks Lindell, Owner of Hinaani Design in Arviat, NU and others. Each episode features music from Northern artists and Venture Out’s theme song is Fires Across the Tundra by Juno-nominated musician Leela Gilday.
In a time when hope and optimism can seem hard to find, Northern Indigenous entrepreneurs act as innovative leaders in their communities and uplift those around them. They show us that good things come when we venture off the prescribed path, take a risk, and go after what we intuitively feel is right.
Venture Out is available on all streaming platforms on May 26, 2021.
The show’s production team includes EntrepreNorth’s Co-Director Xina Cowan (Producer and Host) and Outland Sound Design’s Travis Mercredi (Co-Producer and Audio Engineer). A big Mahsi cho to Leela Gilday for her musical support.
Through my work at EntrepreNorth, I have the privilege of collaborating with business owners who are not only doing important work but have captivating personal stories filled with courage, challenges, and humour. We’ve created Venture Out as a platform to share their journeys with listeners across the North and beyond. I believe in the profound impact of good storytelling; especially in entrepreneurship. It has the potential to change us, and this is what Venture Out is all about.
We are seeing an uprising of Indigenous entrepreneurs who are creating and running businesses in ways that honour Indigenous values, laws, and the rich cultural diversity of the North. They are creating stories that go beyond a financial return and are refocusing business design to uphold community responsibility and to generate economic reciprocity for shared community success. At EntrepreNorth we are continuously inspired by stories of determination and transformative growth. Venture Out is our way to spotlight these stories for others to hear and be inspired by too.
It takes a lot of courage and ingenuity to build a business here in the North, and hearing how others have done it can make all the difference. I’ve learned a lot about entrepreneurship over the past few years and it’s important for me to share my experience with others. There is a powerful, growing movement of Northern business owners and we’re inspiring one another to push the envelope and do things differently. Venture Out is elevating all the exciting movement that’s taking place in our communities right now.
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