In an exclusive interview with Indigenous-SME Business Magazine, Agnes Seaweed Wisden, Program Manager at The Fire Weed Institute, shares how the organization supports Indigenous entrepreneurs through mentorship, culturally grounded programs, and hands-on learning experiences. She discusses how the institute helps founders grow sustainable businesses while honoring their identity, values, and community.
Interview By Darian Kovacs
I am a ‘Na̱mg̱is (Kwakwaka’wakw) artist, educator, entrepreneur, and Program Manager at the Fireweed Institute. My traditional name, łilawikw (Gatherer of the People), was gifted to me through our Potlatch system and reflects the values of connection and community that guide my work.
As the founder of Sea Wisdom Design, I create contemporary Indigenous jewelry inspired by the lands, waters, and traditions of the Northwest Coast. My work has been featured internationally, including on the red carpets of the Emmy and SAG Awards. Alongside my artistic practice, I have taught Indigenous metal arts, supported youth and cultural education, and led programming that helps Indigenous entrepreneurs across Canada grow and scale their businesses. Through art, education, and entrepreneurship, I am passionate about strengthening community, celebrating Indigenous culture, and creating meaningful opportunities for others.
What inspired your journey as an Indigenous artist and entrepreneur, and how did it lead you to supporting other founders through The Fire Weed Institute?
Entrepreneurship was never a foreign concept in my family. Long before common currency existed, when trade moved only between nations, my family line were creatives and careful cultural producers. The arts have always been woven into who we are.
So when I launched Sea Wisdom Design eight years ago, it felt like a natural extension of that lineage. Running my own jewellery business where I had to navigate the realities of markets, wholesale, and creative integrity all at once, gave me a firsthand understanding of what we as Indigenous entrepreneurs are actually up against.
That experience is what drew me to the Fireweed Institute. Working alongside founders who are building businesses rooted in their culture and values, and helping them expand and succeed on their own terms. That feels like the work I was always moving toward. We need Indigenous values embedded in the economic landscape, and these founders are the ones doing it.
How does “been-there-done-that” mentorship at Fire Weed change the way Indigenous entrepreneurs learn and grow compared to traditional programs?
Mentorship can be useful, but Indigenous entrepreneurs tend to be overmentored, and they often need more than a monthly check-in. Our programming is built around the idea that relational learning can create radical change.
Instead of the traditional mentorship model, we connect founders with industry experts and exited founders, and match each participant with a dedicated coach for their full year in the Fireweed Venture Accelerator. Bu these key relationships are just the baseline, what the team at The Fireweed Institute is really building is something deeper. We are working on creating a long-term, culturally informed, Indigenous values-led approach to business.
How do you help Indigenous founders balance cultural values, creative integrity, and community responsibility while building sustainable businesses?
We weave together community, business, and culture as not just values but key parts to how we build any of our programming. Throughout the year, we bring our cohort for an in person gathering to culturally significant, land-based immersive experiences that invite founders to reimagine what entrepreneurship can look like. We want them to take away that growing a business doesn’t have to be a grind, it doesn’t have to be lonely, and it doesn’t require compromising your story or your identity. Our goal for the founders is that they can show up as their full selves, and still succeed in an economic landscape that has historically kept them out.
What does a truly respectful partnership with Indigenous entrepreneurs and artists look like, and how should organizations approach collaboration differently?
Real partnership is an ongoing relationship built on trust, accountability, and the understanding that Indigenous entrepreneurs get to lead. At Fireweed, respectful partnership starts with Indigenous leadership at every level, from governance all the way through program delivery. We are an Indigenous-led not-for-profit, and our programming is intentionally made for us, by us.
We specifically prioritize Indigenous experts to lead our sessions, and any non-Indigenous collaborator is vetted before they ever meet our cohort. We also listen actively throughout the year, by checking in with founders to understand whether they’re getting the support they actually need, and we adjust as we go. The program evolves with the cohort, and we make sure that no one feels we are far ahead of them. We also take seriously our responsibility to educate founders on protecting their IP, their story, and their creative work, so they leave equipped to set their own terms in any partnership they enter.
What is your vision for your work with Fire Weed and Sea Wisdom Design, and what advice would you give emerging Indigenous creatives just starting out?
My vision is a landscape where Indigenous entrepreneurs are creating the change we need to see in the current economic system, and where values of reciprocity, respect, family, relationality, and environmental responsibility are front and center. Within this ecosystem I would want to see that growth doesn’t have to be defined by the Silicon Valley model, as it can be redefined to include economic momentum that does less harm and honors where we come from.
Running Sea Wisdom Design taught me that cultural responsibility and revenue can be aligned, and that building a sustainable business doesn’t require compromising your identity or diluting what makes your work meaningful. That lived experience shapes everything I bring to Fireweed.
My advice to emerging Indigenous creatives is to trust that your story, your lineage, and your values are not liabilities, they are in fact the strongest foundation you have. Find your people, protect your work, and look for programs and communities that are built for you, not just open to you.
Disclaimer: Indigenous-SME Business Magazine is committed to providing insightful interviews that highlight the successes and challenges faced by small and medium-sized businesses. The views expressed in this interview are those of the guest and may not reflect the opinions of the magazine or its affiliates.
