Native entrepreneur shares her story

By Kelly Michelle Gagné

The room is small, with a low ceiling and a yellow light hangs above a table cluttered with tools, fabrics, moccasins and dolls. The walls are all shelved, with piles of neatly folded and colourfully arranged patterned fabrics and other crafts supplies stored side by side. The room has a fuzzy feeling to it, with the scent of leather and cats.

Seated in her chair that she spends hours working in, is Narda Kathaleen Iulg. Her face is rounded with a beaming smile, and Gui Henri her “sucky-poo” of a cat, is rubbing up against her leg for affection. Iulg is a successful entrepreneur based out of her own home in Tyendinaga, where she has been making authentic native wear since 1993.

Lying on the table in front of Iulg, is her published book that she wrote called, Are you ready to mind your own Business? The book is Iulg’s guide to helping those interested in starting their own businesses, and though it was originally meant to help those interested in the aboriginal community, the book is full of information and tips that can work for anyone interested in starting an entrepreneurial business.

“Before the book was published, I actually used my ideas to teach workshops around the province for about three or four years, and then one day, one of the girls in my workshop said, ‘Narda, why don’t you turn this into a book? It’s really good.’ And I thought to myself, ‘You know, maybe I should.’ So, it took me a few months, and then I converted the workshop into what the book is now,” says Iulg.

Reaching across the table after giving Gui a nice scratch, Iulg begins to speak about her doll collections that she crafts and sells. The first collection is called “Standing Proud” a series of dolls, a grandmother and her six granddaughters, each with its own name and story, all dressed in their own unique, traditional Iroquois outfits.  The second collection is called “Wrapped in Love” which has six individual dolls, each with a different name and story, all Indian baby dolls.

“It was actually a dear friend of mine, Jim, who nagged at me and nagged at me to get into doll making, until about four years ago when I actually tried to make one. I just copied a model of one that my mother had made, but instead dressed mine in traditional Mohawk clothing, and kept her face blank, like the dolls we had when I grew up, leaving it up to a child’s imagination for the faces,” says Iulg.

Setting down the “Seesfar” doll, Iulg gets up and walks over to the beautiful light brown patterned jacket hanging on the shelf, it’s the jacket she made herself years ago and it still looks as if it’s brand new.

“This is my jacket.” Iulg says with pride. “It’s gotten a lot of attention over the years, and it has definitely helped me get business just by having random people stop to ask me where I got it. They are always so surprised when I tell them I made it myself,” chuckles Iulg.

Iulg has been making jackets, ribbon shirts, casual men’s and women’s clothing and you name it, for years. Every piece of clothing that is requested online, Iulg likes to add the pieces own personal touch too, to add a one of a kind feel to it.

“I can never not add something different to a piece I craft. If someone says they want this or that from the websites pictures, I always craft exactly what they want, but add a little something extra to it, just to give it the one of a kind authenticity,” says Iulg.

Everything that Iulg crafts can be ordered and seen online on her website, www.nkjnativeoriginals.com. Iulg has had great success with the website, with customers ordering authentic native pieces from all across Europe, Canada, the States, and even a customer in Africa.

“Entrepreneurship for native people is almost an engrained skill, because we had too many years before where we sustained ourselves from the land. It almost seems to flow naturally into the fact, that if we have something that we can do, even in modern times we can turn it into some kind of a business. It’s when we have to learn how we’re going to go about offering and selling our business or services, that the stumbling blocks occur.” Says Iulg.

Gui Henri and Sir Giles Mudmore are weaving around her legs, both looking for attention as Iulg clears the table of the doll parts and clothing she has under way for a doll she is currently making. She sits up, and walks back over to the wall to hang up her favorite jacket smiling.