This Indigenous educator launched her own publishing company to release her first book
A northern B.C. educator wants to dismantle the barriers blocking Indigenous women like her from entering the world of business.
Leona Prince wrote her own children's book to inspire young women and Indigenous entrepreneurs — and created her own publishing company to release it.
The result is A Dance Through the Seasons which tells the story of girl named Young Woman and what happens when those around her don't recognize her strength.
Prince, the district principal for aboriginal education in Nechako Lakes School District west of Prince George, already co-owned a book-selling company, Firewood Canada, that specialized in Indigenous books.
Her new book released Friday is the company's first publication.
"We wanted to venture out and take a risk because this trail has not been blazed very much, especially within our culture," Prince, who is Dakelh from the Lake Babine Nation, told Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk.
Indigenous women going into entrepreneurship in Canada face barriers like lack of education, the inability to qualify for a loan and lack of access to male-dominated fields, such as construction, according to a 2017 study.
Story came from a dream
Prince believes her newest venture will be successful because of the desire for "truth telling" in Indigenous stories.
"That really is the essence of what we are trying to achieve: to get an accurate representation of our cultures."
Prince said the story's premise came from a dream that a colleague shared with her.
"She goes, 'I think it's about you.' ... And she told me how I would leave and go out on this leadership journey and come back and lead them."
That night, Prince went home and wrote the story in one sitting. The book was illustrated by Carla Joseph, a Cree artist from Prince George.
Readers will notice the characters have blank faces.
"I want children and other people to see themselves in Young Woman," Prince said, "and to think about their own journeys and their ability to persevere through anything."
