TIF Speaker Series: Resurgence and Resilience
An ongoing speaker series led by Kasey McDonald, Shreya Shah, and Kelsey Roote, featuring Indigenous advocates and change-makers.
December 2021 Speaker Series: Jenn Harper
Our very first speaker series focused on Indigenous Creativity and Joy in the Arts with Jenn Harper, CEO + Founder of Cheekbone Beauty.
We spoke with Jenn Harper, CEO & founder of Cheekbone Beauty; an Indigenous-owned, sustainable makeup brand, & were able to learn valuable lessons and inspirational stories.
What is Cheekbone Beauty?
Cheekbone Beauty is an all Indigenous-owned and founded, digitally-native Canadian Cosmetics Company. Established in 2016, Cheekbone Beauty creates vegan, sustainable products, that are available through their website and now in 9 Sephora stores.
Cheekbone strives to help Indigenous folks, and youth specifically see themselves in a Beauty brand, as well as educate as many people as possible about residential schools and their effects.
Who is Jenn Harper?
Jenn is an Ojibwe woman who grew up off-reservation with her non-indigenous mother in St. Catherines, Ontario. As a result of this, she was disconnected from her Indigenous culture. Throughout her journey, Jenn has learned about her grandmother who attended residential school for 10 years, and the generational trauma this resulted in, worked in the seafood industry, became more connected to her Ojibwe culture, started a succcesful beauty company and has become an award-winning social entrepreneur. Jenn's journey is truly inspiring.
"We knew the world didn't need another lipstick brand, but it did need a brand that was representing Indigenous faces" - Jenn Harper
Jenn appeared on Dragons Den in 2019, and she says this was when Cheekbone really started to grow. This was a courageous step for Jenn to get up in front of business professionals and pitch her business- she stresses the importance of "flexing your courage muscle" and making connections and mentorship opportunities.
Jenn wanted to show there is no "look" to being Indigenous, Indigenous folks are not constantly in regalia, and not everyone is "traditional". Indigenous peoples come in all different shades, and because of this Cheekbone gets to offer a variety of products to the world, Indigenous and non-indigenous folks, with the base goal of Cheekbone being to showcase Indigenous representation.
MIIGWECH, NYA:WEH, ANUSHIIK, MARSEE, YAW^KO, THANK YOU:
Jenn Harper & Cheekbone Beauty
The Indigenous Foundation
Experiences Canada
Watch our live recording of this Speaker Series by clicking on the image above!
May 2022 Speaker Series: Sarah Lewis
Our second speaker series talked about Indigenous Creativity and Joy in the Arts with Sarah Lewis, a spoken word artist and advocate.
About Sarah
Sarah (she/her/kwe) is an Ojibwe and Cree spoken word artist from Curve Lake First Nation, Ontario. Sarah's poetry uncovers the ongoing effects of colonization but more importantly, how Indigenous communities are reclaiming their identities, culture, strength and sovereignty.
She is a proud member of the 2019 Peterborough Poetry Slam Team, a national semi-finalist at the 2019 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and finalist at the 2021 Toronto International Festival of Authors Poetry Slam. Sarah was also selected as the first Poet Laureate of Peterborough, Ontario. She has been featured on Global News, CBC radio as well as CBC Arts’ ongoing video series: Poetic License.
*A recording and summary of our latest Speaker Series will be added to our website and social media in the coming weeks! Thank you again to everyone who was involved in this speaker series.