Serving Up Purpose in a Cup

Photo: Dr Rye Barberstock (L) and Dr. Shyra Baberstock (R) with Kebaonish tea. Credit: Kebaonish

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Altis is a proud partner of Pow Wow Pitch, a non-profit that supports and empowers Indigenous entrepreneurs through funds, mentorship and resources. This National Indigenous History Month, we’re featuring Pow Wow Pitch success stories, including 2024 Grand Prize Winner, Dr. Shyra Barberstock, Co-founder of Kebaonish Inc.

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Highlights:

• Kebaonish is an Indigenous- and woman-led social purpose tea and coffee company co-founded in 2022 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario.
• Co-founder Dr. Shyra Barberstock, a serial entrepreneur who has pitched multiple business ideas to Pow Wow Pitch, won the 2024 Grand Prize of $25,000 for her Kebaonish pitch.
• Kebaonish gives back by employing Indigenous talent, including artists, and revitalizing Indigenous culture and language.
• During this National Indigenous History Month (June 2025), Kebaonish launched Give-Back Month with the goal of raising $10,000 for community-led language revitalization programs.
• During the campaign, you save $2 on every bag of coffee, and Kebaonish donates $2 to Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na (TTO) to support their Mohawk language programming for adults.
• Shyra has the goal of scaling Kebaonish into a global enterprise.

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“We always tell our best stories over tea and coffee.”

That’s how Dr. Shyra Barberstock came up with the idea for Kebaonish, the company she co-founded during COVID in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory with her business and life partner, Dr. Rye Barberstock.

“I was finding the pandemic really isolating,” she says. “I started thinking about legacy, about connection, and about how any time in your life when you’ve got a really good story to share, what do you do? You go for a tea or a coffee.”

That got her thinking.

As serial entrepreneurs with a shared background in policy, procurement and design thinking, Shyra and Rye had already co-founded successful social enterprise Okwaho Equal Source Inc. in 2015 with a mission to fuel economic development in Indigenous communities.

And while they both continue to enjoy consulting, during COVID, Shyra began looking for a business they could scale further. “I wanted to be in the community working with people because that’s what I love doing,” she says. “So, I started thinking about connection and something fun Rye and I could do together.”

While mulling over the idea, Shyra also thought about the power of language to connect people to their culture and their community.

In her case, Shyra is Anishnaabe and a member of Kebaowek First Nation near Kipawa, Quebec. Rye, on the other hand, is Haudenosaunee and a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, located in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario. They wanted the business to have a connection to both communities.

And when it came to the actual product? A self-confessed tea drinker, Shyra said tea came to mind first. But with plans to grow her company into a global business, she realized she also needed coffee because so many households drink both.

And that’s how Kebaonish came to be.

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Kebaonish: Brewing impact by giving back

More than a tea and coffee company, Kebaonish is a social purpose business that gives back by employing Indigenous talent and promoting Indigenous language and teachings, primarily the Anishnaabe concept of Mino-Bimaadiziwin (“living a good life”) and Haudenosaunee principle of Ka’nikonhrí:yo (“the good mind”).

Both principles are reflected in Kebaonish’s tea and coffee blends and in their packaging, too.

For example, the four coffee blends (all certified organic, ethically sourced from Central and South America) were inspired by the four Wampum belt treaties of the Haudenosaunee (Friendship, Covenant Chain, Dish with One Spoon and Two Row), and the tea blends were inspired by the Seven Grandfather Teachings of the Anishnaabe (Honesty, Love, Wisdom, Truth, Humility, Bravery and Respect).

All the words on the packaging are printed in English and French, as well as in the Indigenous languages of Anishinaabemowin or Kanienʼkéha, something that was very important for Shyra, a Sixties Scoop survivor who reconnected with her First Nation’s community, culture and language only as an adult.

While completing her undergrad degree in First Nations studies at Western University, she studied the language of her community. “When I do public speaking now, I can actually introduce myself in Anishinaabemowin, which brings a great sense of pride,” says Shyra.

She knew she had to get the language right on her packaging. “What is the Anishinaabe word for love? What is the word for respect? We engaged with native language speakers to translate it because culture is embedded in language.”

And since culture is also embedded in art, Kebaonish collaborates with Indigenous artists to wrap their products in culturally rich designs as well. Each package features the work of Mohawk artist Melissa Brant (who receives royalties from the sale of each bag), and their community boxes are decorated by Cree artist Jaylene Cardinal.

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Revitalizing language during Give-Back Month

Shyra believes that when Indigenous languages are strengthened, so is Canada.

That’s one of the reasons she and her co-founder launched Give-Back Month in June 2025 (coinciding with National Indigenous History Month). Their goal is to raise money for Indigenous language revitalization and cultural preservation in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.

The goal is ambitious: They want to raise $10,000 to support the Mohawk language programming for adults delivered by TsiTyónnheht Onkwawén:na (TTO).

Here’s how it works:

• From June 1-30, you save $2 on each bag of coffee you purchase, and Kebaonish donates $2 to TTO.
• If you purchase the Coffee Lovers Bundle (four bags), you save $8, and they donate $8 to TTO.
• With every purchase you make, you earn one entry for a weekly giveaway of a Kebaonish Unity Box, valued at $146 CAD.

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Global ambitions fueled by fire

Now, Shyra has an even more ambitious goal: to grow Kebaonish into a global enterprise.

Through her years of study and her ongoing consulting work with Okwaho Equal Source, she’s learned about the many barriers Indigenous businesses face.

“It starts with how people see Indigenous businesses,” she says. “My PhD research on Indigenous procurement uncovered a prejudice towards Indigenous businesses—that they lack capacity, have difficulty growing, do substandard work or are high risk. I really want to prove that wrong.

“When you hear that, you can either get upset by it and shrink down or you can do something about it: That just creates fire for me,” she says.

That fire led her to complete her master’s degree at Queen’s University in Geography and Planning, where she studied Indigenous entrepreneurs who were using their business to solve social and environmental issues. She then went on to get her PhD at Queen’s, examining how Indigenous procurement can be a catalyst for community building.

And the logical next step was building her own company that made a difference, first Okwaho Equal Source and now Kebaonish.

“We're getting our footing in Canada, but then we will be looking to expand globally,” she says confidently.

“What I’ve read in books about Indigenous procurement versus managing my own supply chain, it's definitely been a learning curve understanding the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry,” she laughs. “But it's been exciting, and I can step up my game this year. I'm a lot better at business finance and I've learned more about financial forecasting and supply chain management.”

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Advice for Indigenous entrepreneurs

“I always tell other Indigenous entrepreneurs, even if you're scared, do it anyway and believe in yourself because it does take a lot of courage to be an entrepreneur, especially if you’ve grown up in a smaller community,” she says.

“Maybe they’re the first person in their family to ever go to university or to start a business and that can create extra barriers, so I always tell them to look for all the supports they can find. Books, classes and tapping into knowledge from other Indigenous business owners. It’s all helpful.

Business is risky, and I think if it’s something they want to take full-time, they’ve got to do a feasibility study to make sure there’s a market for their idea.”

She’s also a big fan of programs like Pow Wow Pitch. She pitched the idea for Okwaho in 2013, and while she didn’t win that time, she appreciated the experience so much, she pitched Kebaonish in 2024, winning first prize. Today, she mentors other Indigenous entrepreneurs.

“I think every entrepreneur should pitch their business at least once because it forces you to come up with a really good elevator pitch,” she says. “If you win the money, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to invest it?"

“And even if you lose the pitch, you win because a whole bunch of people get to hear you talk about your business, and they might follow you on Instagram or buy your products.”

And that’s one of the biggest benefits of Pow Wow Pitch: the network. “It’s an amazing opportunity, especially if you make it to the semi-finals with so many people tuning in to watch online.”

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What’s next for Kebaonish?

Thanks in part to the Pow Wow Pitch win, Shyra has been able to scale her business even further. So far, she’s hired a social media manager, some part-time customer support staff and a sales manager, who will help with their retail partnership expansion across the country (in addition to e-commerce, they sell their products through small retailers across Canada).

“So, everything I said I wanted to do during my Pow Wow Pitch is happening this year,” she says.

Next up? Introducing Kebaonish to the world.

To learn more about Kebaonish, visit https://www.proudlyindigenous.com.

To learn about Give-Back Month, see https://www.proudlyindigenous.com/blogs/art/june-give-back-to-honour-indigenous-peoples-and-languages.

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Watch the next round of Pow Wow Pitch entrepreneurs

Want to watch more inspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas for a chance at winning a prize? Mark your calendars for these upcoming pitch dates:

• September 2-12, 2025: Pow Wow Pitch Semi-Final Episodes will be dropped daily at 6:00 PM ET at www.powwowpitch.org/episodes
• October 22, 2025: Join Pow Wow Pitch online for the Grand Finale live at 6:00 PM ET
• Follow Pow Wow Pitch on social media for the latest news and stories.

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