Heather Black: Creative of the Indigenous Spirit
Heather Black is a successful entrepreneur, managing her two businesses, Buffalo Stone Woman and Creative Spirit Solution, with passion and commitment.
Heather is from the Kainaiwa Nation, and her ancestral name, given to her by her grandparents, is O’takii Tsowakii. Heather is an industry specialist with more than 15 years of expertise in the commercial and educational industries’ whole life cycle.
She works passionately while holding traditional and modern principles, is always eager to share cross-cultural expertise, and provides a network of supportive professionals.
Heather has a wide range of degrees and credentials. She holds certifications as a Beyond the Hurt Facilitator with the Red Cross, an Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Coach from Community Futures Alberta, and an Aboriginal BEST Facilitator.
She graduated from SAIT Polytechnic with degrees in business management and interior decorating and completed the Meyers Norris Penny Self-Employment Program.
Heather collaborates closely with educational officials to create development programs for young people to strengthen their skills. As a result, youth are engaged and inspired by this exclusive program to pursue their education, explore their career options, and gain confidence as they enter the world of careers.
Heather is also extremely passionate about assisting new business owners and exploring opportunities for expansion for established company owners.
Creative Spirit Solution
In 2022, Heather started Creative Spirit Solution as an interior decorating and furniture broker business. The company lasted five years, but Black could not make it financially stable.
In 2015, she relaunched Creative Spirit Solution after deciding to take the company in a new direction, including boot camps and entrepreneurial skills development workshops.
Creative Spirit Solutions is an innovative business and consulting organization with charisma, passion, and strength. They combine experience and knowledge to assist your organization in achieving your community’s strategic goals.
Strategic workshops are created together and sculpted to meet the needs of community members. Members create their own milestone goals for education and careers and receive assistance in building their entrepreneurial aspirations.
Heather is a business leader equipped with passion who utilizes the SMART goal model:
Specific – Define your organization and community goals
Measurable – Sculpt programs with measurable outcomes for success
Achievable – Action-oriented participants are goal driven
Results – Relevant and realistic goals are set, ensuring recording activities
Time Bound – Range from one-day workshops to longer-term programs
Buffalo Stone Woman
As a seasoned entrepreneur, Heather opened her second business, Buffalo Stone Woman, in September 2020. Buffalo Stone Woman was created because Heather recognized the opportunity to share her Indigenous history and culture with people from around Canada and the world in one of the world’s most beautiful places, the Rocky Mountains.
She walks the same mountain paths her ancestors did and provides an exclusive Indigenous experience to those who join her by leading hiking tours in the Alberta district of Kananaskis.
As a spirited entrepreneur, she is a workshop facilitator, strategist, and advisor, always supporting economic development in the business and education sectors. Her Creative Spirit Solutions helps start-ups and long-term Indigenous businesses around the country find growth and success.
In addition, Heather can adapt to the needs of entrepreneurs with Disabilities. She enjoys assisting others in their professional development. Her vision and ability to nurture relationships lead to long-term solutions and success.
Black is also one of four Indigenous people to be named to the Women in Business panel for the 2022 Cando Conference.
Heather is a community engagement consultant, curriculum developer, business plan writer, and network and communications specialist. To know more about her business and work, visit her website at https://creativespiritsolutions.com/.
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