Snipe Clan Botanicals – created out of love

By Tsionatiio

It was a passion for the natural and organic that inspired a business venture to provide families with medicinal remedies, and to learn how to make their own – Snipe Clan Botanicals. Sateiokwen Bucktooth created Snipe Clan Botanicals for her and her family while studying medicines in the SRMT's Akwesasne Cultural Restoration Program (ACR). She chose the name 'Snipe Clan' because she's a member of the snipe clan and its 'important to stick to the roots of her identity'.

Snipe Clan Botanicals offers a more natural and traditional way of medicine and some beauty products for the community. Her value in the community also helps her strive to offer classes for individuals interested in expanding their knowledge in the realm of salves and medicines. Sateiokwen also won Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Akwesasne Business Excellence Awards.

Her products are not the only thing she likes to keep in a traditional value - she also offers a "trade" as a way of payment 'it has a more natural exchange sometimes than to exchange with money' said Sateiokwen. She appreciates the community and loves the trades she receives; an example is an eagle feather for prenatal tea and canned pears, which she loved because they were the most delicious pears she ever had.

The eyelash serum is great for extending your lashes without the harsh chemicals that are found in regular mascara, she had an experience of a customer asking for more serum because she loved the product. Sateiokwen said her eyelashes were like" bananas" they were so full and long!

"SBC's hair oil just saved my hair! I have bleached and colored ends and just spent a week in the ocean. It was so dry it felt like straw! I oiled the ends yesterday afternoon and tied it up then last night, I added more and massaged my scalp with it. I let it sit overnight then washed it this morning and it feels amazing! Niawen Niawen!" a review written on her business Facebook page.

Sateiokwen uses this not only as a business but as a pure passion for plants because they have an endless number of remedies in one plant and when mixing them, adds even more. She said it sometimes reminds her of mixing juices to make a new concoction, something she used to do in the classrooms of the Akwesasne Freedom School.

Being an alumnus of the Akwesasne Freedom School, she said it didn't hinder her, it built her and helped create her passion for traditional medicines. She is also a graduate of Syracuse University and the ACR program. Syracuse was not the end of her education process she also continues to learn as much as she can in workshops and from anyone she can learn from. She does not claim to be an expert because there is still much to learn.