Rematriation and the Native Women's Business Retreat

A weekend dedicated to sisterhood

Native Women Lead is an organization doing important work to uplift the voices and dreams of Native women in business. They provide funding and business support, host networking events, and develop career-development programming for women-owned small businesses in our community. This Halloween weekend, NWL hosted a Native Business Women’s Retreat at the Regency Hyatt at Tamaya, a luxury resort near Albuquerque.

It would be a misconception to think that luxury enterprises are not thriving in NDN country. This particular resort is that it is on Tamaya land and business relationships are maintained between the Tamaya government and the Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Everything from the building design, interior decorating, and activities complement the Tamaya culture and land. This location features jaw-dropping natural landscapes that include rabbit brush, cottonwoods, streams, and a panoramic view of the Sandia Mountains to the East.

I wasn’t sure what to expect for the first day of the event so right after my sister Onawa landed, we beelined for a classic New Mexican meal with our mom at her favorite restaurant, El Pinto. Then, we decided to attend Ghoul’s Night Out at Salt Yard East, hosted by SocialQ benefitting Pink Warrior House. I didn’t know about this nonprofit beforehand, but I learned that they provide important support services for women battling breast cancer. SocialQ is a New Mexico-based content and networking company founded by my friends Ashley Buffington and Jade Ryden. Ashley has been a big supporter of LAND+OBJECT since its very inception, so I took the opportunity to show my sister and her friend Lorene a fun night out with my favorite local business women.

If it’s a SocialQ party, it’s going to be a really fun time— this was no different. The drinks were great, other people’s costumes were incredible and I made a note to rent a 360 photo booth for my next event because the selfies were awesome too. After a few hours of dancing, my sister and I left to check into our room at the Native Business Women’s Retreat at Tamaya. When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by so many familiar faces in the lobby. Right off the bat, our weekend dedicated to sisterhood was off to a great start. With our Halloween makeup still on, we scurried up to the room to rest for the full schedules we had ahead of us.

The first day of the retreat featured important discussions led by various thought leaders in panels chosen by NWL. First up was a panel titled “Why and How to Resource Yourself” by Jamie Glossy and Jordanna Saunders. Jordanna owns her own behavioral health practice and really opened my eyes to the effects of long-term stress. She shared a lot of helpful techniques to better navigate stress and trauma. She also spoke about the importance of self-care and managing your exposure to stress and trauma without internalizing it. We were a very receptive audience that resonated deeply with the importance of a good mental state to perform at a high level.

Second up was Jacklyn Roessel of Grown Up Navajo who shared about visioning and activation. In this exercise, we were invited to draw a self-portrait and engage our subconscious brain in a visioning exercise through writing. Even though my drawing was terrible, I enjoyed taking the time to think about how to articulate my goals to myself and others in different ways.

To further activate different parts of the body, Rose Whitehair led a short yoga stretch. I really enjoy Rose’s yoga flows because she incorporates Diné philosophy. I highly recommend her classes if you’re into yoga, she also teaches virtually sometimes! I’ve even worked with Rose in the past when I hosted an event called Art, Memory, and Healing.

Interestingly enough, the next session was about Healing and Connection by the founders of Cahokia, a Native Women-led art and tech space in Arizona. They spoke about the founding of their organization and the challenges experienced along the way. I resonated with one graphic they shared with the 5 Most Common Limiting Beliefs of Entrepreneurs. More than any of the others, I’m continually plagued by perfectionism. When I shared it on my story it seemed that a lot of other people resonated with it as well.

The final session of the day was by Sunshine Tenasco where she shared about her entrepreneurial journey and innovative business Powwow Pitch.  Sunshine was actually on Dragon’s Den, so it was really awesome to hear that a First Nations woman had gotten so much out of that opportunity. It seemed to be life-changing, but also very challenging because demand for her product was outpacing production capacity. I think her ability to maneuver through that challenge to then end up creating Powwow Pitch where she creates even more opportunities for indigenous people is exactly why we needed to hear her story.

After the discussions were wrapped for the day, my sister and I spent the evening relaxing in our room watching to the recent Diane Sawyer interview with Mathew Perry. If you haven’t seen it yet, he shares his story about his life and prescription pill addiction. I would say that it’s an important thing to watch because this type of addiction is a huge problem that is killing millions of people with no accountability at corporate or government levels. The interview was so heart-wrenching we decided to skip dinner and stay in to decompress and catch up on each other’s lives.

On the morning of day two, I was inspired to sneak in a quick workout to honor the advice that had been shared by multiple women during the retreat: “Defend your self-care time with your LIFE.”

Down at the conference, we broke out into different groups based on our business stage.  I got to catch up with the awesome folks at New Mexico Community Capital over breakfast and we heard from the indigenous representative at Meta, who I was very happy to see involved! My sister and I decided to sit in on the “Established” business break-out room. We chose our seats we had no idea that we were next to Haleakala, a youth entrepreneur and owner of Lakota Body Care. I’ve been using her Facial Oil for the past few days, I have to say, I’m a huge fan! Together, we listened to the business story of One World Rug Care, owned by Lisa Foreman. She was very informative about specific questions we all had about sustainable growth and expansion. Her business recently purchased their own building in a very nice part of town, which was so inspiring to see as someone who also loves textiles!

In the afternoon, we met up for our chosen group activity: Horseback Riding with friends of L+O, Tamaya Horse Rehab! This nonprofit specializes in adoption, re-homing, training, and dedicated care, to help horses live out a full, cared-for life. My outfit was truly a sight to behold. Due to poor planning, I was wearing baggy dark sweatpants with a grey sweater I borrowed from my sister, Dior rain boots, and a backward straw cowboy hat. The important thing was that I was having the time of my life grooming one of the horses. It is honestly so therapeutic to be around horses, and I can’t fully articulate why?

We mounted our horses and set off for the trail. I had so much fun riding with my sister, lawyer Kristi Williams, Jacklyn Roessel, Calandra Etsitty of Winston Paul, and Mytegia Lee. The laughs were truly nonstop and created a sense of ease. This moment was what inspired me to write a little bit about sisterhood. Even though I looked ridiculous, I felt like we were having so much fun that we just focused on having quality time together. As someone who overthinks clothing like none other, the ease I felt at this moment put into perspective the real goals of this retreat: creating space for inspiration, relaxation, and rematriation.

I was able to attend this wonderful retreat and share space with so many inspiring Native women with gracious sponsorship from Hozhonigo Consulting, a Native Woman-led grant writing, project management, and construction company owned by my sister Onawa Haynes.