“To continue a tradition of my culture is to breathe life back into what has been slowly fading for centuries. Spreading the language, the art, and the music is going to keep us alive. We are not hiding our identities anymore.”
Azheikwe Beading is an independently owned business by Kori Booth, a Fon Du Lac (Minnesota) Native American descendant.
Growing up, Kori’s mother would bring her and her siblings to Powwows almost every weekend. Fry bread, beading, and dancing filled their weekends and kept her love for her native history fruitful.
Over the years, Kori has wanted to find a way to help keep this culture alive. Slowly learning beading over the years, she decided to start her own online shop in hopes to open a physical shop in the future, not only to supply those with crafting needs, but to also allow local natives to sell their work in her shop and spread the history and stories of their culture.
“We will always be dying. Our language is dying, our culture is being covered up, and our people are missing. Instead of blending in with the rest of the world, I want to be there for my people and to give them a chance to be seen, to be heard. It’s not a lot, but it’s a start, and I’m not giving up that easily.”
“Azheikwe means Backwards Woman or Go Back-Woman. Maybe that’s what I need to do. To go back to our roots, and bring back what once was lost. ”
