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20 B C B U S I N E S S . C A M A R C H 2 0 24 Leigh Joseph felt an intrin- sic relationship between plants and culture from a young age. Born and raised in Victoria in Lekwungen and W̱ SÁNEĆ ter- ritories, Joseph regularly visi- ted family in Snuneymuxw, or Nanaimo, on their land along the Nanaimo River. Her rela- tives—who were deeply con- nected to the land—helped instil a sense of reverence for the natural world. She became interested in ethnobotany as a career path after attending a lecture with the renowned ethnobotanist Dr. Nancy Turner in Vancou- ver. "I realized that there was this area of study that brought together things I was really passionate about, including spending time on the land, reconnecting more deeply with culture and connecting with plants," Joseph explains. She did undergraduate and master's degrees in ethnobot- any. Then it was time to deepen her relationships with plants through lived experience. "I'd spent so much time reading and writing about plants, and not as much time out in the forest," she shares. At the time, Joseph was liv- ing in remote communities between Northern B.C. and the Yukon, where access to the wild was abundant. "I would go out each day for either a walk or cross-country ski and revisit the same stretches of forest and lakeshore," she recalls. Inspired by the flora and fauna she visited year-round, she began experimenting with sus- tainably harvesting plants, cre- ating her own home apothecary and making skincare products. Little did Joseph know that this hobby would soon turn into her own Indigenous skincare busi- ness in 2018—one that helped her marry ancestral traditions with modern beauty rituals. At her first holiday market in the Yukon, she sold out of everything. "I was blown away by the support and interest," she says. Soon, Sḵwálwen Botanicals was born. Her father's side of the family is originally from Squamish Nation—as a kid, she regularly visited there, dream- ing of one day returning to her home nation. She decided to incorporate the Squamish lan- PLANTING ROOTS How Squamish-based Indigenous skincare company Sḵwálwen Botanicals is making its mark by Riley Webster S M A L L T O W N S U C C E S S guage into her business through her company and product names; in fact, Sḵwálwen is a Squamish language word, and while it doesn't translate directly to English, Joseph says that a close meaning is "being in a good state of heart, mind and spirit." In 2019, she and her hus- band moved to Squamish. "Coming home to Squa- mish was profound; I was now on this landscape where my ancestors once lived, and I was able to reach out to community members to help me incorpo- rate Squamish language and harvest ingredients from Squa- mish territory," she shares. That same year, Joseph began hiring community mem- bers from Squamish and now has a team of eight. She also went on Dragons' Den, which was a huge milestone and resulted in increased Canadian brand awareness for her com- pany. Today, Sḵwálwen products are carried in over 80 retailers across Canada, and the com- pany has a dedicated Instagram community of over 47,000 fol- lowers. This year, the business also opened its own retail front in downtown Squamish, where the team does everything from production to order fulfillment to office admin. In 2024, Joseph plans to begin exporting prod- ucts to the U.S. Sḵwálwen is more than a skincare company, though; through her work, Joseph aims to help heal the intergenera- tional effects of cultural trauma within the Squamish Nation by learning, working with and pre- serving Indigenous plants. Her goal is to build out the company's Indigenous supply chain through community partnerships and increase Indigenous representa- tion in the beauty industry. Further, her hope is to help people connect with nature via workshops, plant walks and her recently published book, Held By the Land: A Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness. "When we are outside, whether it's in a garden or a wild setting, we tap into something and find a way of being present on the land," shares Joseph. "There is something about being in the presence of beings that have that longer history than us on this earth." " There is something about being in the presence of beings that have that longer history than us on this earth."