When values lead, business can become an expression of culture, care and responsibility.
For Cianna Fayant Gill, mînawâ is more than a circular fashion business. It is a way of bringing her values, family history and care for the land into something people can see, wear and participate in.
The Cree word mînawâ means “again.” It reflects the business’s purpose: giving clothing another life, keeping textiles in use and creating a more thoughtful relationship with what we buy, wear and discard. Cianna launched mînawâ in October 2025. What began as a practical idea has grown into a values-led Indigenous brand rooted in sustainability, reciprocity and care for the land.
“They’re the actual product,” Cianna says of those values. “The clothing is how those values take physical form.”
Rooted in Family and Identity
Cianna is Métis from Alberta and a registered member of Fishing Lake Métis Settlement. Her family lines trace back to the Settlement’s founding generation, and her grandmother spoke Cree.
That lineage is at the root of everything Cianna is building. She has documented her genealogy through the fur trade era to Fishing Lake’s founding families and practises beadwork rooted in Métis floral tradition. This connection to family, place and culture is not something she has added to mînawâ after developing the business. It is the foundation from which the business grew.
Professionally, Cianna works in Indigenous Relations at the University of Waterloo, where she focuses on policy and Indigenous student support. Her work has given her extensive experience thinking about Indigenous identity, citizenship and the responsibilities institutions carry when representing Indigenous people.
Outside of that role, she continued returning to a question:
“What does it look like to build something of our own, rooted in our values?” mînawâ emerged from that question.
Giving Clothing Another Life
Cianna’s relationship with second-hand clothing was shaped by personal experience. Following the loss of her father and her family’s business, thrifting became a practical way to access clothing and make things last. Over time, she began looking more closely at the larger systems surrounding clothing. Items that still carry value are often discarded, while the environmental and social consequences of textile waste are carried elsewhere.
“Reducing that waste while also providing clothing at accessible prices is really important to me,” Cianna says.
mînawâ was created to give clothing another chance through a circular model that keeps textiles moving through three possible streams:
- Wear: Reselling clothing that can continue to be worn
- Share: Creating opportunities for community giveback
- Renew: Diverting remaining textiles through recycling
Every item is considered for what it can become next rather than being treated as waste.
This model connects retail with a larger responsibility to the land and community. It reflects the values of making things last, sharing what can still be used and thinking carefully about where materials go when we are finished with them.
Letting the Why Lead
In the early stages of mînawâ, Cianna focused on the fundamentals of building a viable retail business, including margins, sourcing and sell-through. Those fundamentals still matter. However, the turning point came when she realized that mînawâ was not simply a resale business.
“It’s a values business that happens to sell clothing,” she explains.
That realization changed the questions she was asking. Instead of focusing only on how to sell more clothing, she began asking what she wanted the brand to stand for.
“The lesson that shaped everything was understanding that the ‘why’ has to lead the ‘what,’” Cianna says.
Once the purpose became clearer, so did the direction of the business. Sustainability, reciprocity and care for the land were no longer values surrounding the product. They became the foundation of the product, the business model and the story mînawâ carries.
Finding Clarity Through Launchpad
The Indigenous Launchpad for Entrepreneurs gave Cianna a space to strengthen both the business model and the story behind mînawâ. Through self-paced business learning, mentorship, pitch preparation and relationships with other Indigenous entrepreneurs, she was challenged to explain not only how the business works, but why it needs to exist.
Having to articulate that distinction changed how Cianna understood the brand.
Launchpad also reminded her that entrepreneurship does not have to happen in isolation. She found a community of Indigenous entrepreneurs who understood the experience of building businesses connected to identity, values and community responsibility.
That combination of practical business development and relationship-building helped Cianna prepare to bring mînawâ to a national stage.
A Moment of Recognition
On May 6, 2026, Cianna joined four other Indigenous youth entrepreneurs at the inaugural Indigenous Launchpad Showcase during the NACCA Indigenous Prosperity Forum in Gatineau, Quebec. She presented mînawâ’s circular fashion model, its three-stream approach and the values guiding its growth.
Cianna placed second in the Showcase, receiving early-stage funding to support the next phase of the business. It was the first significant external validation of mînawâ and a proud moment in Cianna’s entrepreneurial journey. The recognition affirmed that the business had commercial potential, but it also showed that people understood the deeper purpose behind it.
For Cianna, that balance matters. “mînawâ is proof to myself that cultural depth and commercial viability aren’t competing, but working together.”
Authenticity You Can Trace
Cianna wants mînawâ to demonstrate that Indigenous entrepreneurs do not have to choose between cultural integrity and commercial ambition. The business is being built on real retail fundamentals, but it is also an expression of Métis values. Care for the land, reciprocity, making things last and honouring where you come from guide how Cianna approaches the brand. She is also clear that identity matters and that it carries responsibilities.
mînawâ is grounded in what Cianna describes as “authenticity you can trace, story you can stand behind.”
Her family history, professional work and cultural practice inform the business and give her a foundation from which to speak.
This is what allows heritage to be more than a visual influence or marketing story. It becomes part of how the business makes decisions, builds relationships and defines success.
Building Slowly and Well
The next stage of mînawâ is about deepening its foundation. Cianna is growing the business’s retail presence while continuing to refine what the brand stands for. She wants every part of mînawâ to reflect the values on which it was built. Increasingly, she is drawing inspiration from the boreal forests and lands of northern Alberta that shaped her family for generations.
“That landscape holds stories,” she says, “and I want the brand to hold them too.”
Cianna is intentionally building slowly and carefully. She is not interested in rushing the process or separating growth from responsibility.
“When you’re building something meant to carry your family’s story, you don’t rush it.”
Beyond growing mînawâ, Cianna plans to continue supporting Indigenous women in business and advocating for authentic Indigenous representation. These commitments are not separate from the brand. They are part of the values that run through everything she does.
mînawâ gives clothing another life, but its purpose reaches further. It demonstrates what becomes possible when a business knows what it stands for and builds from a foundation of culture, community and care for the land.
Connect with mînawâ
mînawâ is a values-led Indigenous circular fashion brand giving clothing another life through resale, community giveback and textile recycling.
New products, services and announcements are coming soon.
Website: www.minawa.ca
Instagram: @minawa.ca
Continue the Journey
Every entrepreneur has a story, and every story has the power to inspire the next.
🎥 Watch Cianna’s Founder Story and hear, in her own words, how her family history, values and relationship with second-hand clothing inspired mînawâ.
📖 Read more Founder Stories on the IPF Blog and discover how Indigenous entrepreneurs across the country are building businesses rooted in purpose, creativity and community.
🚀 Ready to begin your own entrepreneurial journey? Launchpad enters its national rollout at a time of growing interest from communities, Nations and ecosystem partners. IPF is exploring new collaborations with organizations that share its commitment to strengthening Indigenous-led entrepreneurship.
Opportunities exist to support future cohorts and participants, mentorship, sector-specific streams and expanded community reach across Canada. The Launchpad Founder Stories Video Series was created by the Indigenous Prosperity Foundation in collaboration with Double Barrel Studios.
Partnership inquiries may be directed to launchpad@indigenousfoundation.ca.