Bennie alumnae start Indigenous beading business

Indigenous people’s identities have long been ignored, erased and forcibly removed, but a new Bennie-owned business aims to revive the culture with pride.

The Frybread Sisters, composed of CSB alumnae Faith Gronda and Marissa Johnson, sell Indigenous beadwork including keychains, lanyards, wristlets, earrings and other jewelry. As members of the Wandat and Odaawaa-Zaaga’iganiing communities, the Bennies hope to remind others of the importance of purchasing Indigenous-made products versus Indigenous-inspired. The business’s name reifies Gronda and Johnson’s love for the dough-based Indigenous dish that’s fried and often covered in butter, jam or sugar. Johnson has been referring to her and Gronda as the “Frybread Sisters” for years, so it only makes sense that they’d choose it as their business title.

“A lot of cultural practices were taken away from us through assimilation,” Gronda said. “So beading is a way to keep those practices living on.”

The duo runs their business through Instagram for the time being, as they are relatively new to the business scene with their first product “drop” having only been on Jan. 1. They are working on attaining their LLC but have continued to create their unique products in the meantime. Johnson and Gronda each specialize in unique types of products. Gronda produces many of the fringe earrings they sell, whereas Johnson creates a variety of unique lanyards and keychains along with earrings. While some sets of earrings can take two hours to make, larger pieces such as lanyards can take upwards of eight.

“Life is busy, and it’s harsh and it’s not necessarily always the most forgiving, but when we’re beading, it’s so much better,” Johnson said.

At the onset of the COVID pandemic, Johnson found herself with more time to focus on her beadwork, as classes were moved to Zoom. During a time in which being together posed significant risks, she turned to beading as a way to reconnect with her native heritage.

“I was able to rewatch lectures that had been recorded by my professors while I was beading. I felt it was really a dually productive time,” Johnson said.

Though Gronda has not been beading for as long as Johnson, she, too, has come to view the practice as a way to escape from the stressors of day-to-day life.

“I didn’t always have a great way to decompress and just exist… after I started routinely beading, I just felt so much happier,” Gronda said.

Johnson was previously the president of the Indigenous Students’ Association (ISA) on campus. Part of what inspires her to continue traditional Indigenous practices is the Anishinaabe’s “7 Generations” principle, in which individuals seek to carry out practices that honor both the seven generations before them and create a more sustainable world for the seven generations after them.

“Beading, along with other Indigenous practices, is a form of resilience.” Johnson said. “It wasn’t that long ago that Indigenous people weren’t allowed to practice their cultural beliefs or engage in gatherings that centered around cultural beliefs.”

While at CSB+SJU, Johnson and Gronda hoped to create a space in which Indigenous students feel comfortable embracing their heritage and taking advantage of the opportunities that come their way.

“Being Indigenous on campus wasn’t always the easiest; however, it was definitely rewarding,” Johnson said.