says with a laugh. “That was my first 
introduction to entrepreneurship.”
More importantly, it was Cameron’s first 
lesson in belief — in her mother’s belief 
in her. She had invested in her dream 
long before there was any evidence it 
would succeed, and that lesson stayed 
with Cameron throughout her life.
FULL CIRCLE
When Cameron became a mother 
herself, when she was only 18 years 
old, providing for her family became 
her singular focus. She worked relent-
lessly, taking jobs wherever she could 
while carrying the lessons she had 
learned from her own mother: make 
sure there’s food on the table, a roof 
overhead, and never stop trying.
Years later, after marrying and moving 
to a rural community with her late 
husband, Cameron launched another 
business — this time selling home-
made pizzas and wings. That business 
became wildly popular, but success 
came at a cost. She found herself 
working around the clock while missing 
soccer games, football practices, and 
other precious moments with her chil-
dren. Eventually, she stepped away, but 
the desire to build something of her 
own never disappeared.
Cameron’s entrepreneurial spark 
reignited when she began noticing 
something while travelling through 
Indigenous communities: pride. 
Everywhere she went, she saw commu-
nity logos embroidered on jackets, hats 
and backpacks. Indigenous people, she 
realized, proudly represented where 
they came from. Sensing an opportu-
nity, she researched the promotional 
products industry and discovered a 
multi-billion-dollar market.
Armed with a used embroidery machine 
purchased on Kijiji and a collection 
of YouTube tutorials, Cameron taught 
herself an entirely new trade. Working 
out of a small room beside her kitchen, 
she built Dreamcatcher Promotions, one 
stitch at a time. “It actually was a family 
business right from the get-go,” she 
says. “I’d be cooking supper, listening 
for the machine to stop. Sometimes I’d 
call my son to switch the jacket over. 
We all built this together.”
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For an entire year, Cameron worked 
both a day job and in her own growing 
business, often putting in 18-hour days. 
Eventually, she knew she had to make 
a choice. Walking away from the secu-
rity of a regular pay cheque was terri-
fying, especially for a young parent. 
“As a mom, that’s one thing we always 
battle with,” she says. “We’re always 
last. This was the first time in my life I 
had to think about putting my dream, 
my passion, into something that was 
scary and unpredictable.”
With support from the First Peoples 
Economic Growth Fund, Cameron 
secured financing and opened her 
first storefront in Winnipeg in 2013. It 
measured less than 700 square feet. 
Then came another life-changing deci-
sion: hiring her first employee. The only 
person she trusted enough to ask was 
her mother.
At the time, her mother had a secure 
career at Great-West Life — the kind of 
job people spend decades building 
toward retirement. Yet when Cameron 
Indigenous BUSINESS REPORT   43
CEO SPOTLIGHT

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