Etsy is proud to be an onramp to entrepreneurship, helping makers turn creativity into small businesses of their own and connecting them to millions of buyers worldwide. With 20 cents and a creative idea, anyone with access to the internet can open a shop on Etsy. But many still lack the access or skills to go online. As part of our commitment to economically empowering maker communities that have traditionally lacked access to the digital economy, we launched the Etsy Uplift Initiative in 2021. Today, we are excited to announce the latest addition to our Uplift Makers Program: the Indigenous Artisans Collective.

The Indigenous Artisans Collective is a group of over a dozen creative entrepreneurs — most of whom identify as women — affiliated with 10 Native or Indigenous groups from the United States and the First Nations of Canada. Their stories offer a glimpse into the diverse experiences of Indigenous artisans in these areas and the importance of creative entrepreneurship to their communities. Access to outside markets, especially through digital platforms, is key to business development on tribal lands; yet, many in these areas lack the know-how and resources to leverage those platforms1. Through the Indigenous Artisans Collective, Etsy and our nonprofit partner Nest are working to open doors to ecommerce, offering tools and skills to help these makers run their shops on Etsy, where they can be discovered by our 90 million buyers seeking handcrafted, meaningful items.

Celebrating Indigenous Art

In addition to generating economic opportunities for these makers, the Indigenous Artisans Collective is a chance to celebrate the cultures and craftsmanship of Indigenous peoples across the U.S. and Canada. Beadwork is a common art form among many of these makers, as the traditional craft provides a tangible connection to their heritage and an outlet for self expression.

For Mary Jacobs, a member of Seneca Nation and the owner of Mary Jacobs Designs, the connection between craft and identity runs deep. “I bead to keep my culture alive,” she says. Mary grew up surrounded by beading, and passed the skill onto her daughter, Samantha, who is also a member of Etsy’s Indigenous Artisans Collective. The mother-daughter duo now run a beading class together in their local heritage center.

April Toledo has also beaded all her life, taught by her grandmother. Creating intricate jewelry for her Etsy shop, Juniper Dreams By April, connects April to her Navajo traditions and those of other Indigenous groups, while helping her unwind. “[Beading] takes my mind off busy thoughts or worries and promotes a healthy mental state,” April says. “Beadwork speaks to almost every tribe. With beading, you go and sit and talk and share — and it's almost a universal Native tradition.”

Grounding support in community

To better assist members of the Indigenous Artisans Collective, the program features several peer mentors — Indigenous entrepreneurs who already run Etsy shops — to help and advise makers in the Collective that are new to Etsy. Etsy and Nest are committed to providing makers with digital market opportunities, as well as the training and resources needed to help make the most of these opportunities, now and in the long-term.

To help set the members of the Uplift Makers: Indigenous Artisans Collective up for success, Etsy has made an investment of $100,000, which will be used by Nest to provide ongoing business capacity support and training in areas such as professional photography, design and merchandising, shop content creation, shop management, shipping and fulfillment. To celebrate the launch of their new shops, Etsy will also be waiving transaction fees and providing listing fee support for a period of time. In addition, items from the Indigenous Artisans Collective shops will be included in the Etsy Uplift Makers Editors' Picks page.

About the Etsy Uplift Initiative and the Uplift Makers Program

The Etsy Uplift Initiative is a multifaceted initiative that supports the creative economy and communities of makers and artisans through a number of programs — including providing resources to economically disenfranchised makers, to offering buyers the chance to support nonprofits that create paths to entrepreneurship for everyone, to curating Editors’ Picks pages that celebrate diverse sellers from various communities.

The Uplift Makers Program is part of the Etsy Uplift Initiative launched in 2021 with the world-renowned Gee’s Bend quilters — a remote, Black community in Alabama where, despite their global recognition, the average income is about $16,000/year. For the quilters, the resources, business skills and market access gained through Etsy helped them overcome long-lasting financial barriers. Following the launch, we welcomed additional quilters to Etsy as well as the historic Gullah basket weavers of South Carolina, a community known for their unique basket-weaving technique that has been passed down for hundreds of years. And in June of 2022, Etsy launched the Afghan Refugees Collective, a cohort of more than 20 shops owned by Afghan refugees who recently resettled in the United States. Overall, the 60 participating Etsy shops generated over $800,000 in sales.

The Etsy Uplift Initiative demonstrates Etsy’s continued commitment to fostering equal opportunity to creative entrepreneurship, and it advances our mission to “Keep Commerce Human.” With the Uplift Makers Program and our continued partnership with Nest, we are helping to amplify and pave a path to a new financial future for celebrated artisan communities, which drives our mission forward.

To learn more about the Uplift Makers: Indigenous Artisans Collective and shop their incredible work, visit the Uplift Makers page here.