Creating in the unknown with communication specialist Shani Gwin

By Laura Mushumanski

(ANNews) – Shani Gwin is the founder of pipikwan pêhtâkwan, a communications, public relations and engagement agency that is focused on uplifting Indigenous people. Her upbringing helped shape her values and her approach to relating with people.

“I was seeing two sides of the coin,” she said. “[My parents] presented this worldview to me that our People aren’t just in these systems. I just saw them as people in different stages of life, as all people are.” Her early experiences helped guide her to see people for where they are at, instead of what they may be encountering in their current lives.

“I come from a lot of privilege in certain ways, I guess. Both my parents are connected to the Metis community. [My father] worked in labour development, skills training, project management training, train the trainer. He was really focused on developing skills in our People so they could be employed. My mom worked for my papa at Native Counselling Services of Alberta, then became the warden at Stan Daniels, then CEO of Niginan Housing Ventures. She was on the other side of getting people out of incarceration and addictions and working to secure people in safe housing.”

Growing up with family members that supported our Indigenous brothers and sisters, Gwin understood at a young age the importance of uplifting community, which led to her founding pipikwan pêhtâkwan and ‘building relationships in a good way.’ In her youth, years before Shani ventured into public relations, she had been impacted when she saw how Indigenous People were being misrepresented in the classroom and how these narratives bled into people’s ways of thinking and engaging with Indigenous Peoples.

“It wasn’t really until I [started] school [and noticed] people would have ideas of how our People were…I started getting this message … it was such a rude awakening at school, learning about Indigenous history…I kept having these experiences with people and being misinformed.”

As a daydreamer, Gwin would create in the unknown, wondering how she could shine light on the beauty of Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding? Her daydreaming was a blessing in disguise that took her on a journey into the world of public relations. “I had heard about public relations (PR). I never saw our People in ads. I didn’t see them in the paper, in movies and when I did see them in those spots it was a stereotype, or harmful or not played by an Indigenous person. I just started thinking about my upbringing… Nobody had PR people, there was no one doing marketing… When I got started on my own, community started hiring and supporting me. Community is great like that – if there is a young person interested in something; they will lift you up.”

Gwin was always curious, and she wanted to know more, she wanted to be a part of ‘how could my perspective improve this field?’

“I looked around there was almost all white people in my class… My goal became to work in Indigenous relations and somehow work for Indigenous people, somehow doing communications … I really worked hard on honing my skill… I took opportunities as they came.”

The creation story of pipikwan pêhtâkwan, is consistent with Gwin’s advice she would gift to her younger self… “Stay curious – it is okay to do things kind of the hard way sometimes or not the way that people want you to…I look back to my childhood and there was a lot of shame

and anxiety around trying to do things the way everyone else is doing or sort of being in a daze or daydream… I hope more Indigenous youth are given the ability to daydream. That to me is a form of resistance… It is okay to rest, it is okay to daydream, it is okay to create in the unknown

because look what you have done. look what you are going to do. It is not going to be perfect, it  is going to be hard. It is not going to be easy, but it is going to be one of the most rewarding  experiences of your life and you are going to help a lot of people and they are going to help you  too… Daydream ..maybe you aren’t listening to the thing that you aren’t supposed to be listening  to because you are caught up in your own thoughts. Stay curious, daydream and be joyful. And don’t let people bring you down for being joyful.”

‘pipikwan pêhtâkwan is  a name that was gifted during ceremony. In Plains Cree, it translates to an eagle bone whistle that is heard loudly, one used to wake the ancestors in a specific ceremony…’the  eagle whistle will be heard throughout the land and the heavens to wake the ancestors.’

Laura Mushumanski is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.