Natasha Marshall Gallic has big ideas on top of big ideas. From Tseshaht First Nation in Port Alberni, she grew up in a fishing family and was on the water as a child watching the fish and learning the ropes and ethics of a water-based industry. Natasha eventually became a deck hand, purchased her own boat, added a custom-built boat and later hired her own daughters. She is proud to call herself a fisherwoman.
But it doesn’t stop there, Natasha has extensive education and is using it to create visibility and claim space for indigenous role models. She has completed SFU’s Indigenous Business Leadership Executive MBA and sits on various councils and boards supporting her community, her heritage and female empowerment.
As she continues in academia towards her PhD, Natasha is working on ‘the first indigenous woman owned community supported fisheries company in the world.’ miʕaat (Sockeye salmon) Community Supported Fisheries (MCSF) is her passion project. Natasha is finding the support she needs with the Seafood Business Accelerator (SBA) program offered by the Centre for Seafood Innovation at Vancouver Island University. As an avid student, she is encouraged that this program is offered through an established university. She loves the ideas and energy in the program and is making sure to get as much value as possible using tools and strategies from the panel of experts while refining her business plan in an indigenous context.
As a business leader Natasha noticed a gap in the support available to community members away from home (commonly referred to as members living “off-reserve,” Natasha is changing the narrative). She experienced this challenge herself when trying to source quality, traditional food while studying on the mainland, away from her island community. She wants to create a proactive, efficient and equitable model of seafood distribution to support the health of indigenous communities and their away from home population.
Natasha is gathering intel from the SBA with the goal of transferring knowledge to support community minded business strategies in her own community. She plans to share the knowledge and resources she has gained with her people to help them capture more value from their harvests.
Natasha is passionate about reviving and passing on indigenous values of community, equality and humility in a return to a decolonized way of doing business. She aspires to be both an inspiration and role model. “It is possible to follow your dreams as an indigenous woman in whatever field or area you have a passion for,” she explains, “and I want people to know that.”
She intends to take the indigenous teachings that have been passed down and bring them forward, reigniting the importance of balance, community and reciprocal relationships. hishuk’ish tsawalk – everything is one and interconnected (translated from Nuu-chah-nulth language)
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This article was written by Josephine Olivier and published in the Seafood Business Accelerator Celebrating Spring 2023 Graduates Booklet.
Island Coastal Economic Trust is honoured to have been working in close partnership with the Centre for Seafood Innovation project on the Seafood Business Accelerator program valued at over $186,000. The Trust contributed $60,000 to the overall budget.
