In an exclusive interview with Indigenous-SME Business Magazine, Trina Reid, Founder of Under the Stump, shares how she is creating meaningful connections between people, land, and Indigenous knowledge through immersive tourism experiences. Inspired by personal experiences and a deep relationship with the land, Trina discusses how her work helps visitors understand the stories, traditions, and memories connected to these places.
Interview By Darian Kovacs
Trina Reid is the founder of Under the Stump and brings 20 years of experience to the tourism industry. Her work spans customer experience and service design, product and experience development, and the thoughtful curation of programs rooted in place, people, and story.
Trina specializes in community-based and cultural tourism, partnership development, and inclusive tourism that supports neurodiverse programming and meaningful employment opportunities for persons with challenges. Through storytelling, land-based experiences, and strong operational knowledge, Under the Stump meets people where they are — creating experiences that are welcoming, well-run, and meaningful while balancing authenticity, guest care, and community priorities.
What inspired you to start this journey, and how do your identity and community shape the way you welcome and guide visitors?
At Under the Stump, people connect to the land not just as scenery, but as a place of memory, story, culture, and belonging. Our experiences bring visitors to seaside communities, the barrens, around ponds, and into inland spaces that hold deep meaning for our family and community. Through storytelling and time on the land, they begin to understand that these places are tied to identity, history, and ways of life worth remembering.
What inspired this journey was deeply personal. My son has autism, and with my own injury, we could no longer access the remote backcountry places that had long been part of our family’s life – traditional hunting grounds, foraging areas, and places connected to fishing and food gathering. These were never easy places to reach; they were places people went to for survival.
That became the foundation of the business. We wanted to open that connection back up in a more accessible way, while also preserving stories and cultural knowledge that risk being lost to time. At Under the Stump, we want visitors to arrive as strangers, become friends along the way, and leave feeling like family – more connected to the land, the stories, and themselves.
Sharing cultures through tourism is meaningful, but it also requires care. How do you share stories and knowledge while protecting what is important in the community and traditions?
Sharing culture through tourism is meaningful, but it also comes with responsibility. At Under the Stump, we share stories and knowledge in ways that are grounded in lived experience, respect, and place. We share what we have lived and what we know to be true for our family and our experience on the land.
At the same time, protecting what matters is just as important as sharing it. Not every story is meant for public spaces, and not every part of culture should be packaged for tourism. Some knowledge is personal, some is sacred, and some belongs to community in ways that require care, permission, and respect.
For us, it is important that cultural experiences never feel performative. We are not trying to present culture as a show. We want people to leave with a deeper understanding of the relationship between land, story, and identity. That means sharing honestly, staying within the boundaries of what feels right to us, and making sure that what we share reflects our values, our community, and our responsibility to both.
Many Indigenous tourism businesses face challenges like seasonal income and limited resources. From your experience, what challenges have you faced and what kind of support has helped or would help businesses like yours grow and succeed?
Like many Indigenous tourism businesses, one of our biggest challenges is seasonality. There can be strong interest during tourism season, but maintaining cash flow, staffing, marketing, and long-term growth year-round takes constant effort. In rural areas, limited resources, infrastructure needs, and the added work of creating accessible experiences can make growth even more challenging.
Businesses like ours also carry multiple responsibilities at once. We are not only building tourism experiences – we are also working to preserve and share culture, create meaningful employment, improve accessibility, and support our communities. That kind of work takes time, capacity, and investment.
We have received support through the Original Original Accreditation Program from the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, the Newfoundland and Labrador Indigenous Tourism Association, Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador, DMOs, partners, and other businesses. Their support has helped promote our business, strengthen our visibility, and connect us to valuable networks and opportunities.
What would help businesses like ours continue to grow is flexible, long-term support for infrastructure, accessibility, marketing, training, and business development that reflects the realities of rural, seasonal, and culturally grounded work.
Spending time on the land can change how people see and understand the world. Can you share a moment when a visitor had a meaningful experience or a shift in perspective during one of your programs?
One experience that stayed with me involved a family visiting from the city with three children who had never been in a remote wilderness setting before. We brought them to Eastern Arm and introduced them to the land in a hands-on way – showing them plants and medicines, sharing natural elements that can help start a fire, talking about traditional uses of the land, and letting them experience simple things like picking and eating blueberries on the barrens.
What stood out most was how deeply the children connected. They became so engaged in learning about the land, our Mi’kmaq and Newfoundland culture, and the experience around them that they did not want to leave. We ended up staying longer than planned because they were so excited and curious.
Their parents were overwhelmed in the best way, seeing how connected their children became to the land and how fully they were present in nature. For me, that was a powerful reminder that these experiences can open something up in people, especially when it is their first real opportunity to connect with the land in that way.
For young Indigenous people who want to start land-based or cultural-based businesses, what advice or encouragement would you give them as they begin their journey?
My advice to young Indigenous people who want to start a land-based or cultural business is to start with what is true to you. Start with your own connection to the land, your community, your stories, and the values you want your business to carry. You do not need to copy what someone else is doing to build something meaningful.
I would also say not to overlook the things you grew up with or the knowledge that may feel normal to you. Sometimes what feels everyday to us can be powerful to someone else when it is shared in the right way. There is real value in lived experience and in what has been passed down.
At the same time, take that work seriously. If you are building something around land and culture, do it with care, respect, and patience. Not everything needs to be shared, and not everything should be rushed.
Most importantly, do not wait until everything is perfect. Start where you are, keep learning, ask questions, and grow as you go. If it is built from something real, people will feel that. Under the Stump is about Getting Back to Our Roots.
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.
