Inspire Experts
Our Inspire Experts are local experts who share their stories of entrepreneurship, acting as inspiration for participants, and helping link our curriculum to the real world. Sharing their wisdom, they highlight and embody an entrepreneurial mindset, helping our participants learn from their experience.
Northwest Territories
Beverley Bagnall Hope and Frank Hope
Beverley and Frank own a consulting company that specializes in facilitating culturally respectful, safe processes in traditional healing and wellness. They believe it is essential to protect, practice, and share their culture and has made it their mission to do so.
Cameron Sapp
Cameron's Mobile Mechanic Service (CMMS) is a mobile mechanic service that provides local and commercial mechanical services in and around the southern and central regions of the Northwest Territories. Passionate about being an entrepreneur, he takes pride in working in and contributing to a community that aligns to his values.
Giselle Marion
Giselle Marion’s Tlicho Online store is meant to promote local artists and culture in her commumity. Giselle believes that an integral part of entrepreneurship is forging meaningful and functional collaborative relationships with others and maintaining a functional budget.
Haley Arychuk
Haley Arychuk is a day home operator at Haley's Day Homes. Seeing the gaps in daycare in her community, promoted her to start her business. She believes that it is important to be authentic, and that it is possible to find stability through non-traditional employment if executed properly.
Jamie Wetrade-Stevenson
Jamie is a self-taught photographer based out of Yellowknife. She takes pride in her work and loves that this creative pursuit has become an opportunity to connection, travel and growth.
Joe Bailey
Joe Bailey is a Tour Operator at North Star Adventures. He believes that an important part of being an entrepreneur is being resilient and having the capacity to creatively problem-solve to turn passions into a viable business.
Marc Parker and Jeremy Lawson
Marc Park and Jeremy Lawson are co-owners of Blackspruce Builders, a renovation company that focuses on creating dream homes a reality for customers in the North. They started this business with a vision, and believe that collaboration and entrepreneurship are ways to actualize their creativity and workmanship in a community they care about.
Myrna Pokiak and Eddie Paul
Myrna and Paul are general contractors at Paul Bros Nextreme, a diverse business manufacturing steel, plastic, concrete, woods. They are growing into a construction and landscape business. Having won many awards, their advice is to always strive to be a better person, and with that, a business owner with integrity.
Rob Warburton
Rob’s CloudWorks specializes in all-inclusive, affordable, and flexible office space for NGOs, small businesses, and community organizations. He is passionate about asset-based community development and enriching his community through his entrepreneurship. He believes that being adaptable and an effective problem-solver are key components to having a successful business.
Nunavut
Bernice Clarke
Bernice Clarke is the owner of Uasau Soap. Located on the coast of the Arctic Ocean in Nunavut, Uasau Soap (pronounced ooh-ah-sow) draws its inspiration from prehistoric Inuit tradition and the Nuna. In Inuktitut, Nuna means everything found on the land and in the sea: water, ice, animals, plants, rocks – even the spirits and memories of our ancestors. They craft each product from local ingredients, harvested through sustainable and traditional practices.
Emily Joanasie
A trained teacher and talented seamstress, Iqaluit-based Emily Joanasie left her teaching position in 2019 to pursue her dream of opening a fabric and textiles shop where Inuit seamstresses would feel comfortable and welcomed. Stemming from discussion and collaboration with other crafters in her community, Joanasie was able to open Miqsuqta! fabric supply store in Iqaluit in 2019, with the specific needs of Inuit crafters in mind as the guiding principle. An accomplished seamstress herself, Joanasie works in Commander materials, cotton, canvas, furs, sealskin and beyond. Also a prolific creator of parkas, Joanasie contributed an original men’s parka design to the 2020 Project Atigi line, a collaboration between Canada Goose and Inuit seamstresses and craftspeople. Outside of her jacket and parka designs, she also enjoys crafting other items, like sealskin items, jewellery and décor items.
Inuujaq FredlundInuujaw
Inuujaq FredlundInuujaw owns a pop-up arts and crafts shop, called "Maybe Some More", specializing in selling various Inuit products. Inuujaq takes pride in the craftsmanship and local talent in her community. Relationships and business partnerships are other aspects of her business that make the work worth it. She believes that anyone can start a business if they have the passion, plan, and drive because it is worth taking the risk.
Jordan Konek
Jordan is a bilingual video journalist and reporter/editor for CBC North and has his own production company, Konek Productions. He developed his company while working as a researcher with the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project, filming activities related to the project in Yellowknife, Vancouver, and Ottawa. As co-director and co-producer, he hopes that this initiative will be an inspiration to Inuit youth. He attended COP 17 United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa and spoke at an international press conference about the Inuit perspective on climate change. An advocate for climate change, he also presented his work at the latest Inuit Studies Conference at the Smithsonian Institute and was a speaker at the International Polar Year conference in Montreal in 2011. He has also worked with the Canadian Rangers, assisting with the junior rangers program in Arviat, Nunuvut.
Yukon
Delmar Washington
Delmar Washington is the owner of Capital Helicopters Helicopter Company. He has had a love of helicopters since he was a child. In this interview, he emphasizes the importance of money management and forging good accounting relationships to stay organized for the long term.
Diyet van Lieshout
Diyet van Lieshout is the owner of Diyet Music. She moved to Vancouver to start her music career but returned to her home of Burwash to continue to realize her dreams as a musician. She emphasizes how important it is to be authentic in your life path and craft your life through creative decision-making and perseverance.
Jackie McBride-Dickson
Jackie McBride-Dickson and her husband co-own Takhini River Ranch, a food and processing plant providing quality meats to customers in their community. They believe in the power of interdependence and uplifting other local businesses because they want to see their community thrive. They believe that strategic planning and careful budgeting are critical to maintaining a viable business.
Jackie Olson
Jackie Olson is an entrepreneur that established the Peabody's Photo Parlour in Dawson City, Yukon. Her connection to her community and her identity was hugely influential in supporting the creation of her business. She emphasizes the importance of having a growth mindset.
Brenda Lee Asp
Brenda Asp is the owner of Beleev - Mind, Body, Spirit Gifts; a Manufacturing Business located in Haines Junction, Yukon. Her commitment to her culture sparked a passion in her that led her on her journey to regalia and jewelry creation and the establishment of her business.
James Allen
James Allen, an entrepreneur, owner, and operator of Shakat Wilderness Camp, believes that the skills needed to run a successful business are resilience, determination, lifelong learning, and adaptability. He takes pride in being an entrepreneur because he can contribute to the success of further generations.
Greg Hakonson
Greg Hakonson is a Developer at Oro Enterprise in Dawson City. He believes that having safe housing in his community is necessary, and that is why he has dedicated his work to become a self-taught developer, specializing in helping folks in his community have stable housing.
Luann Baker-Johnson
Luann is the owner of Lumel studios, an ever-evolving glass-blowing studio business. Built a year after a family tragedy, Luann channelled her grief into attending art school and the creation of her business. Her business is built on a foundation of love, care, respect, and providing a place for others to work, grow and learn as an individual, using art as a vehicle for connection, reflection, and ultimately, healing.
Sam Johnson
Sam Johnson, along with Mary Anne Caroll, is a co-owner of Uplands Mining. Uplands Mining was started as a way to contribute back to the community. Their passion and resilience have given them the strength to endure hardships and adversities. Their advice for new entrepreneurs is to be mindful of your goals and find ways to monitor that you're meeting them along the way. That will give you more energy to move forward in a good way.