In a small kitchen in Haines Junction, surrounded by jars of dried plants and amber bottles lined neatly on shelves, Sylvie Gewehr is quietly reshaping what a business can look like in the Yukon. Through Wildwood Spirit, her herbal business, she crafts teas, tinctures, salves, plant walks, workshops, and one-on-one consultations that invite people into deeper relationship with the plants around them.
When sisters Micah Hake Glada and Trista Glada first moved to Faro, they weren’t thinking about product lines or entrepreneurship. They were grieving the loss of their mom, adjusting to a new home, and spending a lot of time indoors making art.
What started as a way to cope and create slowly grew into something bigger: two homegrown book projects that celebrate Yukon wildlife, Kaska language, and the imaginative worlds these young artists carry with them.
In the depths of a Yukon winter, 17-year-old Mercedes Handel sat down for a conversation from her home in Watson Lake to talk about something that’s both deeply personal and quietly powerful in her life: beadwork.
Growing up, Matt Douglas was thinking about becoming a defence attorney before he found his calling in the creative power of marketing. Today, Matt is the managing director at Mammoth Marketing. His team works to fill a major gap in the marketplace for small and medium-sized businesses and organizations–and they’re committed to investing in the community–especially the next generation of entrepreneurs.
It's Aiden McRae here - marketing coordinator and storyteller at YukonU Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E). I recently sat down to chat with Chirag Jadhwani, CEO and Technical Lead at Honest Empathy Innovations Inc., known as PeerSupport.io.
Maria Rose Sikyea is a Dené artisan from Northwest Territories who facilitates traditional skills workshops, sells caribou hair bundles, works towards cultural revitalization and creates jewelry alive with the gifts of Mother Earth.
When caribou graze among saxifrages – a vibrant high arctic flower found on the tundra – their muzzles become naturally coloured with a reddish hue. This natural occurrence is what inspired Maria to name her new innovation, Saxi Yukon.
Fashion designer Natasha Peter sews stunning clothing and jewelry to share with her community and on the world stage. Descended from a long line of Kaska sewers, her grandparents passed along their skills to her at a young age. She took hold of these skills in her mid-twenties when she was facing a dark point in her life, and found healing by connecting with her traditions. Her early designs led to custom orders from across Canada, gaining organic traction and acclaim.
To celebrate Tourism Week Canada 2024, we were thrilled to sit down to chat withKalin Pallett, owner of Eddyline -the first tourismbusiness to participate in YukonU I&E’s IncubateNorth program.
Fran Morberg-Green, also known as N’tso Ga / Elädzing, is merging her love for graphic design and herbal medicine to carve out her own path as an entrepreneur. Some years back, she grappled with intense physical pain, prompting her to delve into diverse healing practices. After finding relief, Fran resolved to deepen her passions and later to seek flexible self-employment avenues. Her goal? To share her creative skills and knowledge with her First Nation, her community and other Yukon communities.
Neha Devi and Ammanda Partridge are passionate about providing excellence in esthetics care in the Yukon. Since meeting at YukonU I&E while Neha participated in Summer Biz School, these women have teamed up to support each other’s goals.
