S4E1: Gina Nagano | House of Wolf & Associates | October 25, 2023

S4E1: Interview with Yukon Entrepreneur Gina Nagano, President & Community Safety Specialist – House of Wolf & Associates | recorded on October 25, 2023

 

It’s Yukon Innovation Week 20223 and the Yukon Entrepreneur Podcast is once again featuring a mini-series of insightful conversations with Yukon entrepreneurs on what innovation, inspiration, wellness, and community mean to them.

 

(0:24) Gina discusses their background, current business endeavors and how they approach those endeavors in meaningful ways.

(5:14) Gina shares what innovation means to them. They describe innovation as thinking outside the box in a good way and taking the next step in your ideas by bringing them alive.

 

(6:41) For Gina, wellness involves a holistic approach when it comes to their businesses. They define holistic as being their spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical side as a human being, and they think it is important to look further at a community level through this lens. They share that wellness plays a significant role in everything they do.

 

(9:14) What inspires Gina in the work that they do? They are inspired by history itself and passionate about the challenges they see that they want to do more to solve. They discuss how in the Yukon there is a huge opportunity for innovation and creativity, and that there is a ton of support to try to take on these huge global challenges we are experiencing.

 

(11:21) Gina discusses how the colonial system does not work and how necessary it is for Indigenous communities to speak up and create their own systems and programs.

 

(14:25) How can Yukoners and Canadians support Gina in the work to transform the systems not working into something better? Gina says aligning government, businesses, and communities together and getting out there to educate people about the work being done here in the Yukon regarding building healthier communities.

 

(18:39) A lesson that Yukon has to share regarding innovation in wellness at the community level with the world is to allow entrepreneurs the opportunity to be entrepreneurs by providing the space for them to be able to think big and be supported in achieving their ideas. Gina strongly feels we need to do more to support innovation at a community level. Without innovators and creative minds, we would become stagnant.

 

(21:42) Gina shares what is next for them and their business. They have been selected through Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada to travel to Asian countries at the end of this year regarding their green hydrogen project to meet and pitch it to interested businesses in the green energy field in hopes to bring investment to Northwest Canada.

 

Thank you for listening!

 

For more information about Gina and their businesses please visit:

https://houseofwolf.ca/home

https://www.firstpeoplescoffee.ca/

 

For more information about Yukon Innovation Week please visit:

https://yukoninnovationweek.com/