Essence Wandering Spirit

Congratulations to our giveaway winner, ! 🏀👟✨

Ekosi to everyone who entered, followed, shared, and tagged your friends. We are so grateful for all the love and support shown for A Village in Motion: Pathways to Belonging and for helping us keep that good energy moving forward.

, we will be contacting you ASAP to get your proper shoe size and arrange your giveaway bundle.

Thank you again to everyone who participated — we appreciate you all so much! 🖤✨

Before June 6, the Winnipeg Sun helped share the vision behind A Village in Motion: Pathways to Belonging a vision rooted in prevention, belonging, culture, mentorship, and community care.

What happened that day was possible because of the people and organizations who showed up with intention, love, and commitment.

Deep gratitude to Keesha Daniels, whose leadership, teachings, and presence helped ground the spirit of the day. Thank you to Kurius for bringing energy, mentorship, and connection to the youth and for already asking, “When’s the next event?” That kind of commitment means everything.

To Ameil & Abu thank you for creating space for confidence, care, conversation, and dignity. To my Auntie Tanya, thank you for leading ceremony and teachings with such sacredness and love.

Thank you to every volunteer, caregiver, parent, mentor, and community member who showed up for the youth. Every detail and every act of care mattered.

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors and supporters: IRTC, Jordan’s Principle, Southern Chiefs’ Organization, Pride Winnipeg, Me-Dian Credit Union, Shelley’s Bistro, Red River College Polytechnic, The Link, and The War Chiefs. Your support helped create an experience rooted in care, culture, mentorship, and belonging.

This day showed what is possible when community comes together with purpose. Most importantly, it reminded the youth that they are seen, valued, and never have to walk alone.

With gratitude, pride, and commitment, we continue this work.

It was a true honour to attend Vision Quest 2026 and take part in the Sharing Our Stories live podcast panel through the Indigenous Youth Entrepreneur Program.

Speaking about The Essence of Spirit in a space dedicated to Indigenous entrepreneurship was a meaningful milestone in my business journey. In 2025, The Essence of Spirit expanded into facilitation, consulting, wellness education, prevention, and community-centered program development.

Through this work, I support organizations, businesses, nonprofits, and community partners in identifying gaps in services and creating responsive programming that meets people where they are. My work is rooted in supporting community members who often fall between the cracks of systems and services by creating spaces that are accessible, culturally grounded, trauma-informed, and responsive to real community needs.

The Essence of Spirit offers workshops, consulting, project coordination, wellness initiatives, youth engagement, emotional regulation education, prevention-based programming, and community impact planning. At the heart of this work is a commitment to building safer, more intentional spaces that support healing, belonging, and long-term community wellness.

A heartfelt thank you to Michelle Harrison, Community Futures North Central Development, and IYE for investing in my growth and creating access to this opportunity. Your support allowed me to strengthen my network, share my business, and continue building the long-term sustainability of my work.

Vision Quest was a powerful reminder that Indigenous entrepreneurship is leadership, innovation, self-determination, and economic reconciliation in action.

I am leaving this experience grateful, focused, and even more committed to the growth and impact of The Essence of Spirit.

Ekosi 🤍

Ekosi / Mahsi cho to team & Charlotte for welcoming me onto the podcast and creating such a safe, meaningful space to share my story, my work, and the heart behind The Essence of Spirit.

It was such an honour to speak about the work I’m doing in community, youth wellness, emotional regulation, healing, culture, self-love, and creating spaces where young people feel seen, supported, and reminded that they belong.

I’m so grateful for the conversation, the laughs, the warmth, and the opportunity to speak about the purpose behind The Essence of Spirit and the programs I’m building for youth, women, and community. Spaces like this matter because they give people a voice, open the door for honest conversations, and remind us that healing can happen through connection.

Thank you again to the team & Charlotte for having me and for the beautiful work you are doing for youth and mental health. I appreciate you all so much. 🤎

GIVEAWAY TIME 🏀👟✨

A Village in Motion: Pathways to Belonging was such a beautiful day, and we are still feeling so grateful for all the love, support, and community that showed up for our youth.

On behalf of The Essence of Spirit and Roots & Rising Collective, we wanted to keep passing that good energy forward. We were blessed with extra items from the event, so we are raffling off a wellness + movement bundle that includes:

👟 A pair of Nike Air Force’s
💵 $50 visa gift card
🏀 Basketball
🎒 Gym bag
🏋🏽 Gym towel
🧼 Toiletry bag
🪥 Toothbrush + toothpaste
🧴 Mouthwash
🧴 Deodorant
🧼 Bar soap
🍬 Gum
and more gym/wellness essentials

The Air Forces can be exchanged for your size.

This event was rooted in holistic healing, movement, coping skills, emotional regulation, culture, creativity, and belonging. Most importantly, we wanted every youth who came out to know they have a community behind them and that they are capable of walking forward in a good way.

Miigwech / Ekosi to every sponsor, volunteer, mentor, helper, and community member who poured into this day. And a huge thank you to the youth who showed up, participated, laughed, learned, and brought their energy into the space.

To enter:

Follow and
Tag 3 friends in the comments
Share this post to your story for an extra entry

Winner will be announced soon 🖤

Let’s keep moving, healing, and giving back, together.

Registration is now closed!! Thank you to everyone 💗🥺

A Village in Motion: Pathways to Belonging 🌿👟

This gathering was created to give youth more than just a fun day. It is a space to slow down, feel supported, and learn practical tools for emotional regulation, coping, confidence, and connection.

Throughout the day, youth ages 15–17 will be supported through grounding practices, sharing circles, creative expression, cultural teachings, mentorship, food, haircuts, self-care kits, basketball, raffles, and giveaways.

Each youth will also receive a free pair of black or white Air Force 1s as part of the creative expression portion of the day.

Our goal is to help youth feel seen, supported, and reminded that they do not have to move through life alone. Healing happens in community. Belonging happens in community. Growth happens in community.

📍 Niiwin Minisiwiwag
383 Selkirk Ave.
📅 Saturday, June 6, 2026
⏰ 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
🎟️ Free for youth ages 15–17

Bus tickets can be provided.

A huge thank you to every sponsor, partner, Elder, youth leader, artist, barber, mentor, and community member helping bring this vision to life.

Scan the QR code to register. Spaces are limited.

Feeling so grateful for such a beautiful year of learning and growth at my practicum!!

Thank you to Rob and Pete for being such incredible practicum teachers and mentors. This placement taught me so much about frontline work, community, advocacy, crisis response, connection, and what it means to keep showing up with care.

I’m leaving with new skills, beautiful connections, and so much gratitude. Bittersweet to say goodbye. 🤍

I’m so honoured and grateful to be collaborating with an Indigenous-owned brand creating beautiful phone cases that carry our culture with us every day. 🌸

Just a quick break between classes, client prep, and workshop planning… with something cute & functional always in hand 💜📱🍓

As the founder of The Essence of Spirit, I love supporting other Indigenous entrepreneurs who are blending creativity, healing, and community.

Check out their page for more designs — and don’t forget to visit my website (link in bio) to see upcoming workshops and offerings.