Sharing stories and teachings that heal, he’s in business for himself but what he does benefits everyone. Carl Jr. Kodakin-Yakeleya lives in Yellowknife, grew up in Tulita and is originally from Deline First Nation. He owns two businesses, one called Ever Good Medicine, teaching about plant medicines and Shuta Productions, a digital and film production company.

He started his medicine business because people in his community were talking about the need to continue their medicinal practices. Kodakin-Yakeleya was curious and asked a lot of questions, eager to absorb everything he could. Based on what he’s learned from elders and community members, he shares teachings through workshops, school talks, and medicine walks. What he loves most about what he does is seeing the excitement of people talking about medicines and their own experiences with them.

Shuta Productions got its name because he is Shutagot'ine (Mountain People) and he wanted his company to capture his culture and its stories. He sees the work as not just sharing stories but oral history. One day he hopes to create a book, share elders’ stories and make a virtual medicine walk.

He doesn’t do it all alone, though. Kodakin-Yakeleya is always collaborating on ideas with his wife and asking lots of questions and brainstorming with his dad. He’s been trying to learn everything he can from his dad and documenting his wisdom.

As a younger person, he was very shy and introverted but he wanted to learn to be more social and put himself out there. He started to put himself out there more. and people started to notice. Once, he was asked to MC an event and the power went out so he had to yell because the microphone stopped working. His advice to people who are shy of public speaking is to focus on people you know in the crowd and pretend you’re talking directly to them. In the end, even though he was very nervous he still had a lot of fun.

Growing up living in the bush, Kodakin-Yakeleya learned to build fire, shelter, gather food, and trap. He went to elementary and high school and then to the University of Alberta in Edmonton taking open studies while he decided what to take. At first, he wanted to take music, playing guitar, bass, piano, cello, harmonica and he sang. At the same time, he wanted to pursue something that felt more “solid”, so he opted for business administration.

Business administration made sense for him because his dad was an engineer who worked in business and taught him a lot about it. He found it easy and took office administration. For a while, he worked as a math tutor at Aurora College in Fort Smith and Yellowknife and was a substitute teacher in Tulita. Numbers have always made sense to him, while he’s struggled with English and spelling.

While he’s had amazing contract and employment opportunities working with different organizations, he wanted to pursue his own path. With the help of Inspire NWT, he was able to get his business started. He doesn’t make or sell medicines but rather educates about their properties and about harvesting them. Kodakin-Yakeleya only teaches some of what he knows as he is not allowed to teach everything that he has been taught. Some of the teachings he has received are only for him and his family. Eventually, he would like to write a book about what he has learned.

His advice for students trying to find their way is to reflect on what they want to do, think about solid things they can rely on, and what their communities need. Kodakin-Yakeleya also suggests thinking about what they are truly passionate about. From there, he recommends looking online for resources to learn about what they are considering. He adds words of encouragement, “I always tell people, just go for it… Even if you fail, it's okay to fail. I failed many times… Just take a breather, it's okay to bounce back… Just keep going.” He suggests against trying to do too many different things, instead taking a break and trying again.

To maintain his mental health, Kodakin-Yakeleya has been in therapy for ten years. He plays video games, sports and music, and goes for walks, even if it’s just to get a pop. Taking the time to enjoy the little things like listening to music or going shopping with the kids also brings him joy. With the responsibilities of entrepreneurship and family life, sometimes he just needs time to himself and he and his wife take turns having time outs to collect themselves in small ways throughout the day.

In closing, Kodakin-Yakeleya encourages youth to pursue their passions. “Just do something that you love. If you start your own business, and if you don't enjoy or you don't love it, it's just another job,” he explains. Thinking back to one of his first business ideas, flies on strings for parents who wanted to get pets for their kids. He saw it as an open market and a hilarious concept.

He supports himself by sharing stories and medicinal teachings that heal in the businesses he built. At the same time, Carl Jr Kodakin-Yakeleya’s work benefits everyone who gathers to listen. Raising his family and sharing his culture, he gets to spend his time connecting and helping people help themselves. Once shy, he’s come out of his shell and learned how to shine doing what he loves most.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.