It was an amazing night surrounded by talented, ambitious, hard working Native American women. We had sat with my cousin Heather and aunt Denise who have their own business selling Native American crafts and run the Native Art Market in Tempe Arizona. We also had some really cool people at our table, a former State Representative Eric Descheenie who received a special recognition by NWEAZ for his support of the group.
The evenings events also releases two major announcements. One NWEAZ release interm Board of Directors: Bleu Adams (Chair), Debbie Nez-Manule (Treasurer), Mable Tsosie (Secretary), and Cherylee Francis as Executive Director. Visit their website to get more information about the group.
The second announcement declared publicly, by Local First Arizona Director of Rural Programs Lisa Noland, the partnership between NWEAZ and Local First Arizona who will serve as NWEAZ’s fiscal sponsor.
There were many things that happened at the Celebration. We watched a video produced for the group.
A review of data about Native Women Business Owners, which is the 1st of its kind ever.
This puts our demographic in the light, we are now visible with the data gathered. But there can never be enough data, so if you are a Native Women Business Owner who lives in Arizona please fill out this survey!
There was also a great Discussion Panel composed of Native Women Business Owners in all stages of owning a business.
Left to right, Britney Martinez of Native Coffee Co., Alana Yazzie of The Fancy Navajo, Ahsaki Baa LaFrance-Chachere of Ah-Shi Beauty, Bleu Adams of IndigeHub.
Happy Accidents! Media Production LLC also received a Certificate of Appreciation for all the work the company has done since joining the group in January.
Our Artist Algernon had donated a few of his prints to be given away in the raffles that were happening throughout the evening. Sadly we didn’t win anything but we did get photos of the ladies that did win his donations.
She won all of the 5×7 prints and was super excited to receive them.
We know Candice from our home town and the image is blurry, it was the end of the night and I was tired, we was also super excited to have won the print.
I just wanted to say a big thank you to Cherylee Francis who is very humble and always deflects the recognition away from herself. She works hard for NWEAZ and is the back bone, being apart of multiple committees to make sure this group thrives and keeps moving forward. To me as a fellow film maker and Native Women, she is an inspiration and a colleague and mentor that I can look up to as an itty bitty just starting out in my business.
