J'net Ayayqwayaksheelth had an inkling that one day she would join forces with a fellow Nuu-chah-nulth relative on a professional working basis.
That time has arrived as it was announced on Sept. 23 that Ayayqwayaksheelth, a member of Ahousaht First Nation, has been hired to be the new managing director of the Indigenomics Institute.
Hesquiaht Nation member Carol Anne Hilton, who has more than two decades of experience working in Indigenous economic development, coined the term Indigenomics in 2012.
And Hilton is also the founder and CEO of the Indigenomics Institute, an First Nations economic design platform that offers services to Indigenous Nations, economic development corporations, businesses, governments and those in the corporate sector.
Ayayqwayaksheelth has actually been working for the Indigenous Institute since mid-August. She was on a small contract, in part to serve as the logistics person for a November conference the institute in staging in Toronto.
"While we were talking about that as part of a team meeting, Carol Anne mentioned that they had posted the managing director position," Ayayqwayaksheelth said.
She was interested in the position since she had been actively searching for more work since this past April. Ayayqwayaksheelth had been working as the manager of Indigenous curriculum at Toronto's George Brown College, but she was let go in the spring due to school budget cuts.
As a result, she decided to apply for the Indigenomics Institute's managing director position.
"She could clearly see that I had a lot of organizational background, a lot of networking and in a vast numbers of sectors," she said of Hilton.
Ayayqwayaksheelth's resume includes prestigious jobs in the arts, post-secondary sector, educational fields and at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum. "I had links provincially, nationally and internationally over the time that I've lived here (in Toronto). So, she could see that I was a fit."
No doubt Ayayqwayaksheelth will be playing a vital role with the Indigenomics Institute.
The advertised job included the following information:
“The Managing Director role is designed for a leader who thrives at the intersection of vision and execution. This is an opportunity to guide an internationally recognized movement, expand the national and global influence of Indigenomics, and shape the economic futures of Indigenous business. This is a leadership role at the forefront of national and global economic transformation.”
Ayayqwayaksheelth had been working 60 hours a month as part of her short-term logistics contract with the Indigenomics Institute. But with her new role she will work four days per week.
Hilton's father is Ayayqwayaksheelth's uncle. The pair call themselves 'sister cousins'.
"I've always tracked her successes and she's tracked mine," Ayayqwayaksheelth said. "And we knew that one day our energy would be a good good mix."
Ayayqwayaksheelth is pleased to join the Indigenomics movement, which she believes is heading in a positive direction.
"I prefer to think it's already on the move," she said. "Some of the work that I'll be doing is just helping to stay on track with some of the goals within the organization already.
There's another reason why she's thrilled to be working alongside Hilton, who will continue to be based in Vancouver while Ayayqwayaksheelth will work out of Toronto.
“I think what I like most about working with Carol Anne is that we're both Nuu-chah-nulth,” she said. “As Nuu-chah-nulth leaders, we can also incorporate that spiritual or cultural aspect of acknowledging how our ancestors fit in and guide us."
More than a dozen others in various parts of the country are also employed by the Indigenomics Institute in various roles.
“She's already planted seeds as a rising Indigenous economic leader, not just in Canada but the world,” Ayayqwayaksheelth said of Hilton. “And those seeds and this cross-continental team will help keep those seeds growing. And it will build the momentum of making people aware of alternatives to a colonial economic system that we all live and breathe as capitalism.”
Ayayqwayaksheelth will continue to operate her own company, Still Standing Tall Design, a consultancy dedicated to experiential learning.
“I will take sidebar contracts,” she added. “I'm a skill facilitator. I'm an education curriculum developer. I do strategic plans.”
