We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elias Not Afraid a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Elias thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

I use full name for my business and brand (Elias Jade Not Afraid). I use to have a banner With my name that I used as a backdrop but stopped using it because they ask the same question I always get asked “is that reaaaaaly your last name? Did you change your name to make it look and sound cool? Can I take a photo of you next to you banner so I can take a pic and send to my daughter, she will get a kick out of your last name?” Not Afraid is my family’s last name. Everyone on My dad side of the family use the last name Not Afraid and it goes back generations all the way back to the original owner of the name “old man not afraid” who would be my greatx9 grandpa. When the government came and put us on reservations, they shortened everyone’s Crow name down and gave us first names and the first name was picked for them and from that day on, Thats how they HAD To be identified. I’m proud of my last name and where I come from.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Elias Jade Not Afraid. Im from the Apsaalooké (Crow) tribe from Montana I am a 31 year old bead artist/fashion designer, who is self taught. I been surrounded by bead work all my life from going to powwows to ceremonies to every day life. When people think of native beadwork, they think trinkets and “good luck” charms and dream catchers but it’s far from it. I create wearable art that is durable and can be used daily and last over time and be used as a family heirloom. That being said, i make a lot of jewelry but also make larger items for museums. I been beading for over 18 years now I been a full time artist since 2016 and participating in art markets, current one I attended was the Heard art market in Phoenix Arizona on March 5-6 2022and I entered two pieces in, my cradle board with beadwork and elk ivory and my spiked ermine clutch and both won best in class, both took first place and won a innovation award. Any art sold by any Native American is art for everyone. If I post anything for sale, it means ANYONE can get them and wear them. Buying/supporting/Wearing native art work is cultural appreciation not appropriation.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Back around 2002-2003, I taught myself how to bead one winter because I was extremely boring living in the country during the winter, it was either too cold or there was a blizzard so we were inside most the time. I didn’t grow up in a “traditional” house hold where our language wasn’t spoken and we didn’t practiced our traditional ways. So years later, while in high school, I started to make items to sell and it would take me forever to sell anything but they would sell. The years prior to my senior year, I didn’t tell anyone I knew how to bead because some people would make fun of me for doing a “girls craft” *back in 1920s the Christian settlers came to our tribal lands and placed gender roles on daily tasks and some how beading became a girl thing but before then both men and women would bead. So I would bead only at home. Then i stopped giving a f*** what people thought of me and would bead at school and my peers thought it was cool and we’re encouraging so I would hustle my beadwork to make money. One thing I told myself as a kid was “I’m never going to make beading a business *because it took me forever to make stuff). Then I got addicted to opiates and was using my beadwork money to buy them but got myself clean and sober and beading really helped me in my recovery and still does. Fast forward to 2016, I applied for the Santa Fe Indian art market in Santa Fe nm and won ribbons for my two entries and sold out on my small jewelry items and been doing it since along with the heard art market. I been a full time artist since and now have my works in museums and exhibitions, some excited things I did since was collaborating with crate & barrel and designed two large rugs, Wells Fargo picked me and 4 other artists to commission a piece to use on their bank cards, was featured in Vogue magazine in their United States of fashion feb 2021 magazine and used my photo for the center fold, launched my first ready to wear collection in July 2021, and this year 2022 I won 2 best in class, 2 first place ribbon, on both my entries for the heard Indian art market in Phoenix Arizona. Along with an innovative award.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I literally started with nothing, I had no money and a few Hanks of beads and some beading supplies. I hustled with what I had and what money I made , I would buy more supplies and slowly built my business from the ground up.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.ejnotafraid.com
• Instagram: @eliasnotafraid
• Facebook: @Eliasjadenotafraid
• Twitter: @eliasnotafraid