Sandi L. Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loom clan, member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 territory, Northern Ontario) gives a personal, motivational talk encouraging Indigenous people to pursue entrepreneurship. She frames entrepreneurship as deeply empowering but extremely challenging, identifying imposed shame and internalized oppression (around culture, family, poverty, language) and unhealthy money habits as key barriers. She urges Indigenous listeners to "put the shame down," offers help/resources (blog post, YouTube video "Sandy's Story" and CEDC speech), and asks non-Indigenous viewers to give space rather than "saving" Indigenous people.
Questions this video answers
Seine River First Nation (Treaty 3 territory, Northern Ontario).
14 years ("come September, I will have been in business for 14 years").
Chapters
One of the most empowering journeys I believe an individual can go on, Indigenous or not, is to start your own business, to be an entrepreneur. And as an Indigenous person, I think it is such an incredibly valuable journey. But I also think there's a huge reason why more Indigenous people don't become entrepreneurs, even though the benefits are so huge. Let's talk about it. Boju Mishko Pogginon. Quite. In addition to Cosmon, no doubt. Hi, everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loom clan, a proud member of Seine River first nation in Treaty 3 territory in Northern Ontario. And today I wanted to talk about one of my most favorite topics, entrepreneurship as an Indigenous woman. And come September, I will have been in business for 14 years. This is my sole income, my only revenue stream. Well, I have lots of revenue streams, but they're all tied to my businesses. It is the most empowering thing I have ever done and I highly, highly recommend it. Indigenous out there, if you feel you can't fit, if you feel you, you can't find a job that's in line with your values, you can find employers that understand who you are. Create your own, become the employer, create that job. More than that, you don't want just another job. Create your dream career. But I warn you that it's going to be the most challenging journey of your life. And I say that very knowledgeable of how challenging Indigenous lives can be. But it's the most empowering journey because it's going to force you to unpack all of those stereotypes, all of that internalized oppression that you've taken in, all of the stereotypes that you have believed for yourself and your community members. But what I came to realize recently, this is not going to be shock to any Indigenous people watching this video. It may be enlightening for non Indigenous viewers. The life of an Indigenous person is a life of shame. We were taught shame. Shame was imposed on us. We should be ashamed that we're Indigenous. We should be ashamed of our cultures and teachings of not being Christian, which is why so many are adamant Christians think residential school era here. That brainwashing is so ingrained and so fear based that it still controls many Indigenous lives to this day. Shame of our how many children we had, how many fathers of our children we have, of our poverty, name it, of our language, of the way we speak English and the accents, on and on and on and on and on. To go into business is to dare to do it your way, to dare to say your path doesn't work for me. It is daring to fail. Because I guarantee you, if you become an entrepreneur, there are going to be things you fail at. You're going to have to pick yourself back up and keep going on. You are going to have to believe in yourself when nobody else does. Which, by the way, is the key to indigenous success. Because we still live in a country that is betting that that describes us as a drain on the coffers. Which, that's another video because that's a bunch of baloney, but it is daring to say, I know what I need and I'm going to do it my way and I'm going to succeed. And I'm living proof that is possible. But that shame of trying and failing is enough to send indigenous people back to working for someone else, even though they really, really, really wanted to be in business for themselves. I'm doing this video today and I wrote this blog post especially for indigenous people for to help you realize you can unpack that shame. That shame is one of the things you have to unpack. Another one you have to unpack is how you handle money. Because we're not used to having money. The impoverished mindset is you check and you pay off all your bills because you got shame that you owe money and you don't leave any for yourself. But you're trying so desperately to be a good person by paying all those bills that you leave yourself broke. Why? Because you didn't realize you're just as valuable as they are. There is so much to learn. But you know what? There is no shame in not knowing. If no one ever taught you, how could you possibly know? And what I am saying is you can learn this. You can do this. If you have any doubts, send me an email and I will share with you my story. And it's on my YouTube channel. You can watch it. I think it's called Sandy's Story. It's the CEDC speech. But shame is holding us back from so many things. From using our voice, from daring to move to some new place, daring to say this doesn't work for me in our office spaces or on our work sites. And daring to quit if they don't want to hear us because that employer needs you as much as you need them. We got to realize that they're not doing us a favor. It's an equal partnership, which means you deserve respect. You don't need any more shame. We can put the shame down today. I'm begging you to do just that. For the non indigenous watching Just give us space and time. We don't need you saving us. That adds to the shame that makes us feel worse. Just give us the space and time to figure this out. We're way better than we were before. But we still got lots of work to do. I hope that made sense. A powerful emotional from my heart video until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye. Bye.
