Salish and Kootenai entrepreneurs came together on July 22 to dive into pitches by business owners around the Indigenous community.

This contest was held at the Salish Kootenai College Theatre in Pablo and welcomed many with dreams of expanding their businesses and going further with their careers.

The entrepreneurs represented were part of a multi-week program that teaches people with ideas in the creative industry how to handle the business side of those operations.

This included weekly meetings, classes in business development and marketing, leadership skills and a partnership with Creative Startups, a nonprofit that helps with accelerating these kinds of pursuits.

“I’m beyond proud of the participants of the Montana cohort and their business ideas,” said Kelly Holmes, founder of Native Max, in a press release. “They want to either start or grow their businesses while also impacting the local community both economically and positively. It was an exciting six weeks of learning the components of building and running a business and creating a community.”

Native Max is a multimedia organization that showcases Indigenous artists and business owners. It started off as a magazine but has slowly grown to include a more prominent digital footprint with a presence on social media and on the web.

Holmes is Cheyenne River Lakota and wants to help implement “Indigenous knowledge and values” into owning a business.

The six-week program ended with the pitch contest at SKC in which three people won: Nissa Birdsbill, Erica Shelby and Yolanda Old Dwarf.

Shelby is the owner of Shelby Consulting, a tribal legal advocacy firm, and her pitch was to help find justice disparities when it comes to criminal investigations involving Indigenous peoples.

“My inspiration was all of the families of victims of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis as well as the survivors. I was an activist and organizer before this business,” Shelby said about why she chose to pursue this endeavor.

Shelby said this program helped her learn what a brief and effective pitch looks and sounds like.

“The funnest part was watching all of the other business owners develop their skills,” Shelby said.

Birdsbill pitched an idea for a barbershop called Scalps, a business that combines her love for styling hair with her Indigenous background to bring more hair-styling places to reservations, especially her own.

She was torn between three ideas and struggled to hone in on one and talked about how low self-esteem and alcoholism played into her almost quitting the program entirely.

“Thankfully, I confided in a cousin who helped me renew my confidence,” she said. “Then I had a one-on-one meeting with the program instructor Kelly Holmes and she encouraged me to commit to the barbershop idea.”

Her inspiration comes from how much she loves to style her son’s hair to the hairstyles many Indigenous peoples incorporate.

“I know a lot of Natives who can braid beautiful traditional styles and sculpt tight intricate designs,” Birdsbill said. “Indigenous people have long had cultural meaning and identify with their hair.”

Her favorite part of the entire program was the practice pitches and how much fun it was to laugh with the other creatives.

“Joking and laughing was the best medicine for the anxiety I had over presenting to a crowd of people,” she said. “I believe the laughter built a lasting bond between all of us.”

While there were only three winners, these free courses help develop skills for those who want to create a business for their communities while looking to empower other Indigenous creatives as well.

“I intend on using this experience to pursue my dreams of opening a barbershop,” Birdsbill said. “This idea will take some time because I have barriers to work through. But it’s in my heart to become a licensed barber, move home and set up shop.”

Go to nativemaxmagazine.com to check out the Native Max platform.