I started my journalism career at the Navajo Times where I lived and breathed arts and culture reporting. I went to holiday markets, bazaars, craft shows, flea markets, art markets and more. All across the southwest. I interviewed everyone from Steven Paul Judd to Deonoveigh Mitchell more well-known as K’aalogii Kisses, and award-winning silversmith Neeko Garcia.

I also interviewed and highlighted the work from local artisans with no website, social media, and cash only. The only way to find them was by going to their regular spot at the Gallup Flea Market, or asking where they’ll be selling next.

There is incredible talent, and a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Indigenous communities. We often grow up being taught a skill, one that was passed down generation after generation.

So, it was exciting for me to be asked every holiday season to curate a list of Indigenous-owned businesses. I’m excited to once again highlight some of my personal favorites.

In no particular order, here are the five Indigenous-owned businesses I’m loving this year.

Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprise

This tribally-owned enterprise was founded in 1941 by the Navajo Nation government. It’s the oldest of the tribe’s enterprises and sells everything from hand-weaved churro wool rugs to kingman turquoise squash blossoms and leather moccasins. There are four storefront locations in Window Rock, Arizona; Chinle, Arizona; Kayenta, Arizona; and Shiprock, New Mexico.

I’ve bought several pairs of moccasins, turquoise rings and earrings from here. My mother also bought the squash blossom set she gifted me from Navajo Arts and Crafts. This is a great place to buy gifts because they stock a variety of items. They also tend to run great sales throughout the year.

Trickster Company

In 2014, the sibling duo Crystal and Rico Worl, both Tlingit and Athabaskan, founded the company in Juneau, Alaska. The design shop sells apparel, jewelry, fine art, books, stickers, games, home goods, and sporting goods.

I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when I bought my first item made by Trickster Company. It was a baby Yoda sticker created in their signature Northwest Coast art style.

I have such a deep appreciation for this art style because it’s so different from what I grew up surrounded by. As a southwest girlie, it’s so amazing to see artwork that features killer whales, herring, and shrimp.

This stone lithograph that features a red shrimp with her eggs is one of my favorites on their website. The piece is titled, “S’éex’át.”

B.YELLOWTAIL

Bethany Yellowtail, Northern Cheyenne and Apsáalooke, is the founder and owner of B.YELLOWTAIL. It is a fashion and lifestyle brand. The brand sells accessories, apparel, dresses, home goods, jewelry, scarves, and textiles and notions.

My best friend and I were at a powwow when we made the spontaneous decision to buy matching B.YELLOWTAIL dresses. She bought a pink dress and I bought red. We wore them a few months later to the White House Spring Garden Tour. It was such a great experience to be two Navajo women from New Mexico in Washington, D.C., wearing a dress designed by an Indigenous woman.

This is an aside but I wear a size 16 or 18. Oftentimes, Indigenous-owned clothing brands don’t offer dresses in my size. So, it makes it extra sweet that I’m able to purchase dresses from this brand and know they will have a size that will fit me.

I absolutely adore this little apron made for kids. I imagine talented little chefs from our communities making wild rice or mutton stew in them.

Cheekbone Beauty

Jenn Harper created Cheekbone Beauty, a cosmetic brand, in 2015. All her beauty products are made sustainably, vegan and cruelty-free. Her brand hopes to carve a space in the beauty industry so that Indigenous people can see themselves represented.

The online beauty community rose to prominence in the 2010s. Beauty influencers offered makeup tutorials and reviews online. I was part of the wave of women and girls who learned how to apply makeup through YouTube video tutorials. I consumed hundreds of hours of content over the years, about the best products to buy, the newest techniques, and most sought after tools.

What I didn’t see was someone who looked like me, had the same eye shape, or high cheekbones. When I discovered Cheekbone Beauty in 2017 I remember screaming with glee. Makeup isn’t just a product to me. It’s an artform, a way to express myself, and a small portion of the day where I’m in the moment and not in my head.

The first product I bought from Cheekbone Beauty was a liquid lipstick called Bethany, named after Bethany Yellowtail.

It’s definitely because I’m Navajo… but I’ve been eyeing a Sustain vegan lipstick in Kéyah for months. Kéyah means land in Diné bizaad, Navajo language.

Nízhoní Soaps

In 2019, I was the first reporter to do a story on Kamia Begay, the young owner and founder of Nízhoní Soaps. At the time, she was just 11-years-old. Begay and her family run the small business.

Today, she is a high schooler with two storefronts located in Farmington and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her body and bath products intertwine local teas, herbs and cedar. My personal favorite is Rez Dirt. Begay was able to capture the smell of rainwater on dry, cracked desert clay with middle notes of rabbitbrush and sagebrush.

All of her products are handmade with real herbs.

Nízhoní Soaps sells a variety of products including soaps, body butters, lip scrubs, wax melts, sugar scrubs, and essential oils.

The Organic Navajo Tea Sugar Scrub is such an interesting and unique product that I would definitely want for myself.

These are just five from a list of dozens of businesses that ICT has compiled. Below are the rest for your holiday shopping.

Marketplaces

Jewelry

  • Mudd Lowery — Western wear, apparel, and turquoise jewelry. Mudd is a jeweler to country singers like Miranda Lambert and Lainey Wilson. He does weekly jewelry drops announced on his Facebook and Instagram
  • ByNeeko — Contemporary silver and turquoise jewelry by award-winning silversmith Neeko Garcia

Art

  • Karma Henry — Contemporary and unique landscape paintings on canvas
  • Steven Paul Judd — Art prints
  • Kaalogii Kisses — Heartwork by mixed media artist Deonoveigh Mitchell that is inspired by her life and childhood memories on the Navajo rez

Apparel

Beauty

Health and wellness

Food

Films / Books / Media

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ContributorPauly Denetclaw, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, is Haltsooí (Meadow People) born for Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House People). An award-winning reporter based in Gallup, New Mexico, she has...