Episode Transcript
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Elyse Wild (00:05):
You may have heard
the term food sovereignty in the
past few years, but what does itmean? Why does it matter, and
what does it have to do withnative CDFIs? Food sovereignty
means having the right tohealthy and culturally suitable
food that is grown, produced anddistributed by the people who
eat it with forest removal andassimilation that persisted for
centuries, native communitieslost a lot their languages,
(00:28):
cultural practices, family unitsand their foods. Today,
communities across Indiancountry are working to revive
their traditional diets andreclaim their health through
food sovereignty, a native ownedbusiness that gives their
communities access totraditional foods is essential
to health, equity, economicdevelopment and healing. Today,
we're going to the CheyenneRiver Reservation in South
(00:48):
Dakota to talk about one nativeCDFI that is supporting a native
small business owner in hermission to exercise food
sovereignty and care for hernative community. Donita Fisher
launched Wyo natural foods andapothecary in 2023 to bring
whole and traditional foods backto her community. The shop,
which sells indigenous grains,wild rice, ground buffalo, among
(01:10):
other items, is located in anincubator space run by Four
Bands Community Fund, a nativeCDFI that has been serving
Native Americans in South Dakotafor 24 years. Incubators provide
resources from brick and mortarspace to marketing support to
small business owners, providingthem a low risk opportunity to
test pivot and gain a footholdin the community without
(01:31):
incurring large financial risk,like many Native Americans of
their generation who didn't haveaccess to traditional diets,
Fisher's grandparents and motherhad diabetes for her. Wyo is not
just a place to sell traditionalWhole Foods, but to teach people
how to make delicious meals fromthem and reconnect to their
health and culture.
Donita Fischer (Cheyenne (01:51):
Hello.
My name is Donita Fisher, and Iam the owner operator of wiyutae
natural foods, and we'll use dayto go take out restaurant in
Eagle Butte, South Dakota, and Iam a member of the Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribe.
Lakota Vogel (02:04):
Lakota Vogel,
executive director of Four Bands
Community Fund, a 24-year oldNative CDFI operating on the
Cheyenne River SiouxReservation.
Elyse Wild (02:13):
Awesome. Lakota, I
thought you were gonna say you
were 24 years old. I was gonnasay like, wow. 24 year old
native CFI Executive Director.
It's funny. Donita, so tell uswhere you were in your life when
you decided to start yourbusiness, and what inspired you
to take the leap intoentrepreneurship.
Donita Fischer (Cheyenne Riv (02:34):
So
I spent the last 30, years of my
career in nonprofit careerworking for various nonprofit
organizations, literally, kindof across the country, in the
and just getting to that pointin my life where I really wanted
to step away and make an impactin my local community and post
(02:54):
pandemic, knowing that therewere supply chain issues and
just really hard to access a lotof different foods, and I knew
that that it was really time forme to step away from the
national nonprofit that I workedfor and to just focus on my
community. And so last October,I took the leap. So why food?
(03:16):
Tell me a little bit about whatis. What does food mean to you
in your life? Do you have? Isthat a big part of your family
life? Is that a way that youshow love and care for people?
Tell me. Tell me why food, whenit comes to taking care of your
community and giving back accessto healthy foods, is really
important to me and my familyand knowing you know, watching
(03:39):
my parents and my grandparentssuccumb to different, you know,
various ailments because of, youknow, just just like Western
culture of food that really cameinto our areas and and not, you
know, we know that with seedoils that cause inflammation,
(04:00):
that cause, you know, differentchronic diseases and stuff, I
mean, and it's, you know, andthere's a lot of probably
different factors and stuff, butreally, health, access to
healthier foods was really kindof key for that, and also key
for me and my siblings, youknow, to to kind of stop the I
mean, you know, diabetics. Youknow, my my grandparents were
(04:22):
diabetic, my mom was a diabetic.
And we knew that, you know,there was probably some sort of
genetic disposition, but we alsobelieve that something that
could be healed through food andand my mom believed it too. And,
you know, and that was one ofher, you know, she never wanted
to see any of us get diabetes aswell. And so I think just
through food and healing throughfood is is just something that
(04:44):
is really important to us,especially now that she's gone,
and it's kind of like a legacyto to her, to build this in her
spirit, in my grandparents andmy dad as well.
Elyse Wild (04:56):
Lakota, tell me
about first meeting Donita and
what stuck out to you about heras a business owner.
Lakota Vogel (05:00):
Well, I think I'll
rephrase the question, because
Donita and I met in a lot ofdifferent ways. As she
mentioned, she was a non profitorganizer. So I first met Donita
as a colleague in the space. Soshe's been working for a lot of
the community organizations thatFour Bands relies on as partners
in community. So I you know,that was my first interaction
(05:20):
with Donita, and just seeing andI think it's true, even as a
business owner, what I recognizein Donita is her commitment to
community. That's the firstwords out of her mouth, whether
she's a non profit professionalor whether she's an
entrepreneur, Donita has thefirst thing she wants to do is
give back to community. And Ithink that's always really
(05:41):
helpful to hear from anentrepreneur's perspective,
because in our markets that aresmall and rural, generally, the
first motivation should not beprofit, just considering the
markets are so small. And Donitamet that profile for me, in my
mind, as well as just taking itslow and steady, Donita has
wanted to give back in manydifferent ways in her community.
(06:01):
So that looks like volunteeringor showing up at community
events and witnessing herinteractions in those spaces,
you know that that willtranslate well into a small
business. And so she's tried afew other small businesses, and
finally, kind of has emergedthis idea, which, you know,
intertwine some of her passionsaround food and health
consciousness in the community.
So I think overall, Donita'sstory arc, we listen for and
(06:25):
understanding, you know, theintention and commitment to
starting a business. What do youwant to get out of that as a
small business owner, and whenshe responds with, you know,
changing people's mindsetsaround food and how they
interact with food, as well asincreasing access to food. Those
are all great intentions tostart with, and it allowed us to
(06:45):
find a way to support Donita inher in the next step she was
going to take for her smallbusiness. So tell me about that
support. I know that Donita,you're in an incubator space.
Elyse Wild (06:57):
So Lakota, tell me
about that incubator space looks
like, and how Donita is businessis an example of the purpose of
that incubator space.
Lakota Vogel (07:07):
I think it's
important to acknowledge that
rural areas and markets like theshine diversity reservation, you
know, have been left behind fordecades, if not centuries, for
infrastructure development. Sooftentimes we have really
informal economies. And so FourBands has recognized that and
been working on it for 24 years.
We needed to create physicalspace for our small businesses
(07:29):
to test out their ideas.
Elyse Wild (07:33):
That's such a great
description of it. And I think
that is one of the things thatnative CDFIs, the people that
I've talked to at Native CDFIsthat those like aspects of
entrepreneurship that might notat first glance, look to be
entrepreneurship or look to belike business acumen are, you
know, with like, just as youdescribed with the money
(07:56):
changing hands for services, youknow, cash flowing through the
community, all that it is aneconomy. It is like there people
might not even think ofthemselves as entrepreneurs when
they're offering, like, goodsand services in that way, but
they are, and that's one of thereally beautiful things I think
about Native CDFIs, is that youcan take that and, you know,
(08:16):
elevate it into really asuccessful economy and business
for people that might not eventhink of themselves in that
aspect. So Donita, we often talkabout the really great parts of
owning a business, but tell mewhat some of the challenges have
been and how four bands havehelped. Has helped you weather
(08:37):
those challenges.
Donita Fischer (Cheyenne Ri (08:38):
You
know, I think gender just
thinking about food, this typeof food, access to this type of
food, and in the food that wesell, wanting it to be
predominantly Whole Foods, isthat it's slow food, and people
walking in the storeunderstanding that, okay, these
are ingredients. It's notsomething I can just go home,
pop into the oven, and so, sowe're selling ingredients to
(09:01):
foods, and recognizing that, youknow, it's, it's, it's a slow
food movement as well. Andtaking baby steps. You know,
stepping away from my career wasreally like wanting to slow down
because I was on a pretty,pretty fast paced life, and
wanting to slow that down, andreminding myself that, you know
that it's that it is baby steps,and, you know, taking it slow
(09:24):
means that, you know, peoplecoming on to getting on board
with it, it's taking a while.
And so I think, and I don't knowif it's like, really a
challenge, I mean, I mean, ithas been a challenge, you know,
just keeping regular customersand and making sure that we have
things that are on hand, thatpeople are wanting. And, you
know, learning the dynamics ofthat has been a challenge. And
just getting people in the doorbecause of the incubator space,
(09:46):
you know, we're not just like onMain Street that, you know, like
the like, say, the other grocerystore in town, you know, where
everybody knows where that isand stuff. And so just, you
know, access to the to thehealthy access. Has been
somewhat of a challenge. But Iknow that people are, I mean,
it's growing, it's definitelygrowing. And people wanting,
wanting, it is definitelygrowing. And Four Bands has
(10:08):
really helped with that, justhelping, you know, make it more
visible for us and, and they'reworking on some other things,
and you know that that arereally helping it become, like,
somebody's first thought, I'mlike, Okay, I need groceries.
You know, do I go to Will youday, or do I go to the other
large grocery store that mighthave more of what I need, but
will you tea has more of thequality that I'm needing? So, so
(10:29):
just trying to find that healthybalance of making sure I have
everything on stock and servingthe customers that we have, and
really looking at what we needto diversify any of those for
the future. It has been somewhatof a challenge. But then that's
why we also opened Woyute to gois, you know, there was produce
that was going, you know, goingto be going bad in this next
(10:52):
week or the next few days, andso we're really able to
incorporate some of those foodsin the takeout business before
it's a loss.
Elyse Wild (11:00):
That's a really
clever solution to the produce
going bad. That's great. And Ithink we talked about this
before when we did our firstinterview, that food habits are
really hard for people tochange, and I think that once
they change, it's a lot easier,but it's really hard to get
people to, like, change theirthought of like, oh, the first
grocery store they go to, orwhat have you, or committing to.
(11:21):
Like, maybe I'll go to twostores, or maybe I'll go to
three to make sure I get what Ineed, but I also get the quality
that I need. And I'm eatinghealthy food that can be really,
really challenging, but yourfood, your products, sound
amazing. Tell me what your bestseller is at the hot food bar.
Donita Fischer (Cheyenne Riv (11:36):
So
we kind of have incorporated,
like, protein bowls, or chickenbowls, or, you know, so we have
a steam table. So we have aprotein rice, sometimes wild
rice. The protein is sometimesground Buffalo and wild rice,
and we have indigenous beans andcorn and just different items.
(11:58):
And so the bowls have reallybeen our best seller, because
people can kind of just takewhat they want, and it's very
customizable to everybody'stastes and and, you know, as
soon as we say that we'rehaving, you know, a certain
bowl, you know, people willdefinitely be, you know, to make
sure to get there early.
Because, you know, because weare smaller, we don't make a ton
of food. But, you know, becausewe want to make sure that we
(12:20):
have, you know, the quality andstuff. So so we do sell out
most, mostly every day. And sowe are working on some scaling
for that as well. But itdefinitely the bowls, the
protein bowls, have just beendefinitely the best seller. So,
and anything smoked, I have togive my daughter props, because
she does a lot of smoking, ofmeats and stuff, and so anytime
(12:40):
she has any of the smoked meats,like the briskets and smoked
chicken, or just any of thestuff that she's smoking, people
definitely respond well to that,too.
Elyse Wild (12:51):
I love that. Donita,
my last question for you is,
what do you absolutely loveabout owning your own business?
What's the best, best part?
Donita Fischer (Cheyenne Rive (13:00):
I
think it's really getting back
to community working in thenonprofit. I mean, I did work
from home, but I spent a lot oftime online and not really in my
community. So I think the bestpart of this has just really
been getting back into thecommunity and re meeting people,
and also just really meetingpeople's needs through this
(13:21):
social I mean, I consider itsocial entrepreneurship, because
I'm definitely, you know,looking at it as fulfilling a
need that's here in thecommunity, and it's just very,
very fulfilling to me.
Elyse Wild (13:31):
Lakota, tell me what
has been really rewarding for
you about seeing Donita'sbusiness have a positive impact
on the community, and throughthat, how Four Bands has had an
impact in the community?
Lakota Vogel (13:43):
Well, I think that
we actually, you know, I just
learned a lot, actually, fromlistening to Donita today with
the slow to I don't know whatthe acronym you just said, but
you know how you're moving. It'sa slow movement. And I, what I
love about entrepreneurs isusually there are movement
builders within communities. AndI do view Donita like that with
building a movement aroundhealthy foods and what that can
(14:04):
look like, and showing that it'spossible. Because prior to that,
we were all purchasing online,so just knowing that these
options are local, she's reallyresponsive. So when you walk
into her store and you expresslike something you're working
on, even with specific diets, orsomething you've read, Donita
just has a wealth ofinformation, and she actually
has contacts beyond you knowthat she's built out this
(14:24):
Rolodex of contacts from hernonprofit work for people, for
you to reach out if you'reexploring different things, but
it's just a total mindset shift.
And I'm grateful to have Donitain that space to bounce ideas
off of and and learn from her.
She tries to build this movementwithin the community and
hopefully sets a, you know, arole. She's a role model for
others to follow. And it's apace that others can can look at
(14:47):
her and say, if you know this ispossible, and she's so willing
to share and mentor the up andcoming entrepreneurs as well, I
think that that's, you know,she's foundational to what Four
Bands stands for in thecommunity, as far as building
for the next. Generation andmaking sure that we leave our
community better than we leftit. And I think Donita really
exemplifies leaving thecommunity better than we found
(15:09):
it
Elyse Wild (15:09):
Perfect. Now Donita,
I lied when I said that was my
last question for you. My lastlast question for you is, is,
what's next? What? What do youhave planned on the horizon? And
by horizon, I mean, let's say,let's say, one year from now,
where would you like yourbusiness to be?
Donita Fischer (Cheyenne Riv (15:25):
My
big, big dream goals is to have
most of our products coming fromright here, our community. And
so it's really building acommunity cooperative of local
growers, meat producers,subsistence harvesters, that are
really feeling putting we'reseeing that in the stores, and
(15:47):
that might even be working onpolicy to to make sure that that
that can happen is, is alsoreally important to me, to just
make sure that you know that weare addressing some of those,
you know, food safety issues, aswell as just access, because
it's, you know, so important,and that's what we learned from
the pandemic, and how importantit is to have a local economy, a
(16:09):
local food economy, and growingthat. So that's definitely our
next steps. Is a cooperative.
Elyse Wild (16:15):
Thank you for
listening. Difference makers.
2.0 is a production of thenative CDFI network and Tribal
Business News. See you next timeyou.