Stephanie Azak

Tell us about your work in your community

Hi my name is Stephanie Azak, Employment Advisor for Nisga'a Employment Skills and Training. I help to assist people to become employed, assist with any barriers.

Tell us a story about a time you brought people together to improve your community.

I am in need of assistance with respect to learning just how to bring people together to improve our community and nation.

What problems are you trying to solve?

Our Nisga'a Nation is starving for Economic Development training and new developments. I am hoping to get the necessary skills to help build and develop in our Nation. We don't have business opening up? We have the same organization throughout the year. I would like to create new developments. My two main ideas are to learn how to gather and open a hair dressing or beauty salon in the NASS Valley. Being a funder for training, I know we have at least 5 hair dressers, 4 nail technicians, and few specialised in make-up, eyelashes and so on. It is a passion to open up shop for them. Another idea I have is to open up a recycling depot in the NASS for find out how to start and support one here in the NASS Valley.

What do you need to learn how to do in order to solve those problems?

I am looking for new ideas and training on how to create Economic Development with the Nisga'a Nation.

What are the most powerful questions you need to ask right now?

How to create new economic development in our Nisga'a Nation. What needs to be done?

If we all worked together, what do you imagine that we could achieve in the next five to ten years?

Creating and supporting new opportunity for development in the NASS Valley. There has been a few people that have opened up coffee, sandwich, printing stores and shops, but they have all closed down now. How can we help to sustain the business already developed in the Nass Valley?