MEET Indigenous Entrepreneur Daphne March
ShaMaSha Founder
Bringing you home through healing, love and laughter
ShaMaSha is the Indigenous greeting her father used to say to each and every person as they walked through their door. A community leader, healer and kind spirit and man of the land, ShaMaSha was his way of announcing love and belonging for each person as they were welcomed in. While the March family was well known and loved through the community they didn’t talk about their Indigenous roots. In 1949, when Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada, the father of the confederation Joey Smallwood was asked by the government of Canada if there were any ‘Indians’ in Newfoundland. He said, “No”, and from then on, Daphne’s dad and ancestors were not allowed to practice their culture in Newfoundland.
Newfoundland and Labrador is home to the Inuit, Innu, and the Mi'kmaq. Descendants of the Thule Inuit, the Inuit have made Labrador their home for centuries. Many Innu people live in Labrador, and the Mi’kmaq people have lived and traveled throughout Newfoundland Labrador for generations.
Daphne’s business, ShaMaSha was created to honour her dad, her culture and to help herself, her family and others find hope and heal from the disease of disconnection that has been destroying lives in her community and across Turtle Island. When her son came home from rehab, they were crying together and both agreed that this disease had to stop in their family. She said:
“As your mother I will do everything in my power. You, my son, will not have to witness your children suffer, like I watch you - it is too painful. I do not want you to have that pain, you have experienced enough in your short years. We will do this together.” Daphne is planning to set up a ShaMaSha Scholarship to support and empower Youth.
“My dad always said ‘Daphne, if you live long enough, everything comes full circle.’ Today I am more than ten years in recovery and I stand tall on the shoulders of all people who have overcome this die-ease! My father committed suicide without him knowing how amazing he was. My sisters suffered from the disease of addiction and ended their lives. My cousin died alone in his addiction, and many of my other family members are still suffering. I could not watch another person go down the same road of addiction. I had to do something, so I went to the land to keep me safe, and connect to something bigger than me and the living world, the creator. I kept surrendering to Creator, and this work takes time, but as Indigenous women practice, patience and resilience is in our blood.
- Daphne March
In The Media
Future Pathways Fireside Chat with Daphne
Future Pathways Fireside Chats are a project of TakingITGlobal's Connected North Program.
Daphne's Impact Statement
From Daphne’s life experiences with addiction and recovery, and from traveling to places all over the world, studying in circle with other cultures to learn, and to heal has taught her, ‘We have the same story, just experienced as different characters. Pain is pain. She feels that ShaMaSha is needed in the world for many reasons, but mostly to empower friends, family and community.
“Daphne’s loving leadership is palpable as is her love for the land. She’s talked about having a soft spirit and a strong spine and this describes her perfectly. Any clients of Daphne will be heard, seen and valued." - Vanessa Lesperance, LIFT Circle Lead
The LIFTing Your Leadership program is a cohort experience for 12 Indigenous women and non-binary entrepreneurs, and is a combination of leadership and business development activities (created by LIFT) and story amplification (by PowHERhouse). The project is rooted in decolonized leadership development and steeped in Indigenous ways of knowing and being. This project has been made possible with support from The Indigenous People’s Resilience Fund which is built upon the resiliency of, and guided by, Indigenous Peoples to support Indigenous communities.
