November is Native American Heritage Month, where we celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories of Native people. Snappy is proudly celebrating this year with our brand-new November Collection!
Our November Collection features products from Indigenous-owned and operated businesses, which means every item makes a direct impact in supporting the community!
Keep scrolling to take a sneak peek at some of the amazing businesses offered in the collection.
Kotah Bear
Kotah Bear is owned by Kotah and Missy and they are both enrolled members of the Diné (Navajo) tribe. Kotah is of the Water's Edge Clan, born for the white people's clan. The Reed people are his maternal grandfather's clan and the white people's clan is his paternal grandfather's clan. In this way, he is a Navajo man. Missy is of the Mud Clan born for the white people's clan. The Black-Streaked-Wood People are her maternal grandfather's clan and the white people's clan is her paternal grandfather's clan. In this way, she is a Navajo woman. They got married in 2012 having met when they were twelve years old. Back then, Kotah traveled the world performing with his family's traditional Native American dance group "Star Flint" and when they were a few dancers short, Missy and her sister Emily were invited to join them for an 18-day tour of Poland.
Over a decade later, they reconnected and were married in the traditional Navajo Way. As newlyweds, they loved to travel. When making trips from where they live in the state of Utah, USA to the Navajo Nation (New Mexico & Arizona specifically) to visit family, they would have many requests to bring jewelry back. They quickly realized that supporting Native American artisans, being surrounded by beautiful items, and meeting new friends are things they are both very passionate about! they decided Kotah's childhood nickname "Kotah Bear" would be a perfect name for their company.
They feel so appreciative that they can share gorgeous handcrafted items from their culture and help support the livelihood of living Native American artisans. Each piece originates from a rich, ancient heritage and can be treasured for generations to come.
Red Planet Books
Founded by Dr. Lee Francis 4 and partners in 2017, Red Planet Books and Comics is the only Native comic shop in the world. They feature comics, books, games, toys, and collectibles for all the Indigenerds in the crowd. Red Planet is also the headquarters for both the Indigenous Comic Con and Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.
Eighth Generation
Eighth Generation is a Seattle-based art and lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe. It was founded in 2008 when Louie Gong (Nooksack) — an artist, activist, and educator widely known for merging traditional Coast Salish art with influences from his urban environment to make strong statements about identity — started customizing shoes in his living room. Now the first Native-owned company to ever produce wool blankets — with a flagship retail store in Seattle's iconic Pike Place Market — Eighth Generation is a proud participant in the global economy.
Eighth Generation provides a strong, ethical alternative to “Native-inspired” art and products through its artist-centric approach and 100% Native designed products. Our Inspired Natives™ Project, anchored by the tagline “Inspired Natives™, not Native-inspired,” builds business capacity among cultural artists while addressing the economic impact of cultural appropriation.
Sister Sky
The story of Sister Sky begins with two sisters who grew up in a culture that has rich and meaningful plant traditions respecting nature’s own healing herbs from Mother Earth.
Our Native American grandmothers harvested a variety of plants like sweet grass, cedar and sage to make teas, ointments and creams. Ancient medicine came from plants and helped us maintain our health or cure us when we were ill. -The Sisters of Sister Sky.
Embracing the herbal wisdom of their heritage, the sisters enjoyed a weekend hobby of making natural soaps and lotions in their kitchens. They eventually took this hobby and turned it into a full-time business.
Quw'utsun' Made
Quw'utsun' Made was founded by Arianna in 2016 while she was living in the small salish village of Swinomish, WA. Arianna, inspired by the land & her elders, created a product line to support the needs of her community. Starting with a small batch of candles, Arianna & her respected siiem travelled to local pow wows, maker's markets, and Canoe Journey, to share her vision of her medicine based product line. Through her travels, Arianna had the chance to connect with elders, teachers, and youth from all over Turtle Island including Lenape (NYC), Dinetah (Arizona), Pueblo (New Mexico), and of course the Coast Salish Nation. It was through these travels that Arianna learned what her community was lacking the most- ancestral medicines in the form of modern skin care. With the guidance of the Coast Salish Nation, Arianna was able to develop what is now known as Quw'utsun' Made.
Beyond Buckskin
Beyond Buckskin launched in 2009 by Jessica R. Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) as a website dedicated to showcasing and promoting North America's first artists and original designers. In 2012, the original blog website expanded to include an online boutique as well. The origin story of this boutique is rooted in positive activism and a desire to share our cultures with the world through fashion design. Based out of North Dakota, Beyond Buckskin is dedicated to advancing creative small businesses located throughout rural and urban communities by providing an online store where customers can connect with Native American fashion designers and jewelry artists. They currently work with over 40 individual artists and small businesses to get their incredible and unique work out to a broader audience. Their designers all advance traditional Indigenous artistic practices by bringing ancient designs, natural materials, and cultural stories to modern fashion. Diversity, beauty, utility, and tradition come together in the garments and accessories we share with the world - from their hands to yours.
Trickster Company
Trickster Company is an indigenous owned design shop founded by siblings Rico and Crystal Worl with the goal to promote innovative indigenous design. As designers we strive to represent the way in which traditionally rooted people represent themselves in modern context and fashion.
We focus on Northwest Coast art and explore themes and issues in Native culture and strive to represent a prestigious lineage of art in fresh and energetic ways as a celebration of Northwest Coast culture as it lives today. We are active advocates of diversity in community and work to promote diversity in civic engagement.
We hope to provide products which act as cultural objects which modern indigenous people can represent their heritage, create products that non-native people can wear and appreciate without appropriating via cultural exchange, and to represent modern indigenous lifestyle to a broader audience.
Bedré Fine Chocolate
The story of Bedré Fine Chocolate began over four decades ago. A small chocolatier operating out of the former Homer Elementary School near Ada, Oklahoma, Bedré Fine Chocolate was determined to make the highest quality chocolate. This attitude is exemplified by the name Bedré itself, which is a Norwegian word that simply means “better.”
Bedré Fine Chocolate remained a local staple, and in 2000, the Chickasaw Nation purchased the company and gave it new life. Building on a rich legacy and love of curating the bold and delicate flavors of chocolate, the Chickasaw Nation turned the small chocolatier into a nationally recognized luxury chocolate brand. Having upgraded our manufacturing facilities with state-of-the-art technology and practices, Bedré Fine Chocolate has set the standard for premium quality chocolate.
Their recipes are tried and true and reflect the time-honored tradition of the Native American peoples who first cultivated this divine delicacy. Now, as the only Native American tribe to create its own brand of fine chocolate, they take great pride in their products and instill their cultural passion into every delicious morsel. Given their strong ties to their culture and community, they make an effort to give back to the land and people who support us.
Cheekbone Beauty
Cheekbone Beauty is an Indigenous-owned and founded, digitally-native, Canadian cosmetics company established in 2016. Based out of St. Catharines, Ontario, Cheekbone Beauty is known for creating high-quality, cruelty-free beauty products including our signature SUSTAIN line of lipsticks and eye pencils, our Warrior Women liquid lipsticks, and a variety of other cosmetics all designed for low environmental impact and maximum wearability.
Keeping in line with her Anishinaabe roots, Jenn launched a less-waste line of lipsticks in 2020, SUSTAIN, setting an ambitious zero-waste goal for 2023. Cheekbone’s aim is to make a difference in the lives of Indigenous youth through donations addressing the educational funding gap and to create a space in the beauty industry where Indigenous youth feel represented and seen.
Giving back to their community is the centerpiece of Cheekbone's mission. Their streams of giving include product donations, monetary donations, or project-focused donations.
To date, Cheekbone Beauty has donated more than $150,000 to a wide variety of causes. These include Shannen’s Dream and the FNCS, the Navajo Water Project, One Tree Planted, and a variety of non-profit organizations across North America. As Cheekbone Beauty grows, so do its charitable goals. True to their roots, Cheekbone’s definition of success is not based on what you attain for yourself, but instead on what you give back to your community.
Bison Star Naturals
Bison Star is a small family business whose products are made with organically, naturally, and locally sourced ingredients. They wild harvest the plants within their bar soaps and nothing ever contains animal products, dyes, or perfumes. After starting their family, Angelo and Jacquelene desired more natural products than ever before, beginning with personal care items. They had some soap recipes from hobby making so they decided to try out making a business with products they intended to use in their own household. The idea of Bison Star began in 2013 when they started making soaps as a hobby, although didn’t actually open until January of 2018. They released their lotion soon after in May of 2018 and their liquid soap in January of 2019. They are working on adding to their product offering to include other body care products including body wash & more. They are nearing completion of the #BisonStarBuild – their 1300 square foot workshop to make their products in. This project began in 2019 and is on target to be completed in 2021. Angelo is a tribal member of Taos Pueblo and Jacquelene does not have any tribal affiliation.
Sequoia
Sequoia is a Proudly Indigenous brand that is 100% owned and operated by Indigenous women. Founded in 2002 by Michaelee Lazore who is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesáhsne and Northern Paiute from Nevada. The design, production, and packaging of all the products is done in the working studio locally. None of the manufacturing is outsourced. In order to keep the next seven generations in mind, the production is sustainable and ingredients are ethically sourced.
Satya Organic
Satya is a steroid free, effective anti-inflammatory that can be used for your face or body. Even around your eyes and on your lips. Made with 5 simple ingredients, fragrance free and USDA certified organic. Satya has also been submitted into Health Canada, with my research, and approved to make these health claims.
Autoimmune issues like eczema have spiked in the last decade and people need more reliable options than just topical steroids. I hope Satya can help you, the way it helped Esme, and thousands of my customers.
B.Yellowtail
The B.YELLOWTAIL COLLECTIVE was born in 2016 out of the desire to create economic opportunities for the communities we come from, and other Native peoples we love.
We've set a new standard that prioritizes Indigenous creators. Our curated assortment of high quality jewelry, accessories and other hand made goods are primarily sold on a consignment basis.
Consignment Artists receive 70% of the profit from all retail sales.
We also offer wholesale options and other retail opportunities to artists, including our assortment of Indigenous beauty & body care brands we love and support.
Since 2016 B.Yellowtail Collective artists have also joined our apparel brand offerings in major retail collaborations with Crate & Barrel, The MET, The Field Museum, Faherty Brand stores nationwide as well as have had features in Forbes, Vogue, and other global press publications.
The entrepreneurial spirit of our people is vast and we are committed to amplifying their voices, creativity, and carving out sustainable economic opportunities we desire to see in the world.
With every purchase, you are directly investing in Native people, our families, and most importantly supporting our culture - without the appropriation.
AlpenGlow Candle Co.
Alpenglow Candle Co. was founded in 2017 with a singular purpose; capture the scent of Southeast Alaska, forge it into a glowing candle with care, and let it inspire adventures in your home.
Whether it is the damp moss and cedar of the Tongass National Forest, the richness of a Sitka Spruce, the freshness of Juneau Rain, the sweet smokiness of a Beach Bonfire, or the sweet floral notes of Forget-Me-Nots, there is an Alpenglow candle for every mood.
We hope that you love our product as much as we love our home in the panhandle of Alaska. In the meantime, we'll keep having adventures to inspire our craft and we'll look forward to the future in this most beautiful of frontiers.
Medicine of the People
I started Medicine of the People in 1995. Recently I changed part of our company name. We were Medicine of the people “A life way revolution” and now we are Medicine of the People “A Native America Made Product”. For us “A Native America made product” represents a way of making products that has our people’s needs in mind. It is a way of saying that we can make products that are distinctly ours. It is about being original, developing products with respect for our culture and the traditions that were passed on to us. It is about finding our voice and creating positive change.
In 2013 we moved our operations into a commercial site in Tucson Arizona. Here we are able to put even more effort into the making of our products and into the creation of new one’s as well. Our philosophy of love and respect for the world is the same that we use in making our products.
We hand make and send our products all over the country and to a handful of other countries as well. I believe we are the most traditional Native herb company in the country that is consistently producing high quality products and wholesaling them far and wide. As we are going forward my mind is not on increasing profit margins it is on increasing our quality and creating new even more wonderful products.
Urban Native Era
Based in Los Angeles, our daily operations prioritize a better life for indigenous people around the world. We seek out spaces where indigenous people are not traditionally seen, we value the earth and use the most sustainable practices that we can afford, we create a collective community where people can come together as one all while creating fashionable clothing for everyone to wear.
Inspired by indigenous led social movements in 2012, Urban Native Era (UNE) was born in San Francisco as a Facebook account that documented protests. In 2013, the brand gained notoriety for its continued efforts using apparel & design as a tool to increase visibility of indigenous news. Today UNE has evolved into an internationally recognized brand for all communities of people to represent.
Indigenous First
We sell quality gifts and goods with a mission of advancing, promoting, and investing in Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs. Indigenous First is a continuously expanding social enterprise run by the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) in Duluth, MN. Our doors opened in the summer of 2017!
Our holistic, mission-based dedication to building opportunity for Indigenous people is rooted in a vision of health and vibrancy, honoring the resiliency of our community and perpetually acting with future generations in mind.
We currently help display the work of 80 artists! Indigenous First has a wide variety of fine art including canvas and paper prints, beadwork including earrings and jewelry, handcrafted birch bark designs, ceramics, books, apparel, and Indigenous foods.
Copper Canoe Woman Creations
Yáu I'm Vina Brown, owner and operator of Copper Canoe Woman Creations. My ancestral Haíłzaqvḷa name is ƛ̓áqva gḷ́w̓aqs, which roughly translates to Copper Canoe Woman. I create modern, on-trend, Indigenous jewelry that's infused with elements of my coastal Indigenous culture and identity. I design pieces I want to wear, big statement pieces with a deep connection to ancestral strength and elegance.
I'm inspired by the natural realm, living in the present time, existing as a capitalist and constantly having to choose every day to honor the Earth. Always, I am also inspired by my family and from within my culture. I come from weavers and beaders, through both my Haíłzaqv and Nuu-chah-nulth families. We have a history of loving beauty and wearing our culture on ourselves that stretches beyond linear timelines.
Through art I've become connected to my roots in ways I never imagined. This journey has been an unraveling, a reclamation of Indigenous womanhood and of creation. I am grateful for my identity, my culture, that I carry in this physical realm, and I am grateful for you. Without your support it would be so much harder to be vulnerable and share parts of my soul I'd otherwise keep hidden. I am grateful to be my true self with you. All work comes from kind intentions and hopefully my most authentic self.
More to come...
At Snappy, we are committed to making a difference in the world. If you know an awesome product offered by an Indigenous-owned business - please let us know! Our team is looking to partner with even more amazing minority-owned businesses and, as we gain more, we will continue to add them to this list.
Want to feature a product through Snappy? Contact us at partnerships@snappy.com.
