b'DIGITAL STRATEGIESNuez Acres images courtesy of Anthony WinghamHOW NUEZ ACRES SHOWCASES ITS INDIGENOUS IDENTITYAs a Mtis, Nuez Acres co-founder Anthony Wingham acknowledges that his identity is part settler, part Indigenous. Winghams wife and company co-founder Nancy Wingham is also Indigenous, from Mexico.As it turns out, this relates back to the pecan itselfthe key ingredient in Nuez Acres skincare products. In the book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about the Council of Pecans, and how this nut was one of the first things to be colonized, says Wingham. When the French came, Indigenous people were pushed onto reserves through what is now Canada and the United States, and into Mexico. In traditional Indigenous views, all of North America is Turtle Island, were all Indigenous.In the first Indigenous stories, the pecan was there. They didnt write about planting the tree, they wrote about finding the nuts on the banks, and how they were able to survive the winter through the nut itself.trade accelerator programs and tradeHumber College called Indsights. The jointto produce their award-winning beauty missions. The aim is to build relation- initiative looks at Canadian Indigenousproducts that include ethical skincare, ships with Indigenous communities inbusinesses confronting economic barriershaircare, beard care, body bombs, scrubs the U.S. to get the companys water- and emerging as innovative leaders. Asand more. In 2019 we started looking at less beauty products into Indigenous- an innovate leader in digital marketing,the pecan and realized that a lot of the owned casinos, spas and hotels. YoureNuez Acres also won the 2023 CCAB andbeauty industrys best kept secrets are not dealing with the government bureau- EY Canadas Indigenous Supplier Pitchall in one nut, Wingham explains. You cracy; youre dealing Nation to Nation,Competition. They received a $5,000have a lot of vitamin A, vitamin E, oleic explains Wingham. The Nations them- scholarship to the Tuck School of Businessacid and amino acids. Often, customers selves have authority because they are onat Harvard University.are using five different items to get all their own sovereign lands. Its really thethese minerals in one product.Nation-to-Nation dream. The story behind Nuez Acres is an inter-esting one: all of their pecans are grown onThe idea was there, and so was the moti-Nuez Acres also recently participated inWinghams father-in-laws farm in Mexico.vation. Then COVID-19 hit. We launched a case study project led by CCAB andNuez Acres imports them to Langley, B.C.our business in a time when you literally Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT 49'