In this episode we are joined with Native Women Lead co-directors and co-founders Alicia Ortega and Jaime Gloshay (Navajo, White Mountain Apache and Kiowa based in Tewa territory, New Mexico), who are two of eight co-founders of Native Women Lead, based in Tewa Territory, also known as Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Native Women Lead, co-founded by 8 Indigenous women in 2017 (with everything done in co-creation and shared leadership) has emerged with an incredibly visionary model for restorative finance rooted in traditional values moving beyond the norms of financial violence with their own underwriting criteria as an antithesis to the 5 cs of credit. When reviewing a loan application they apply these five Rs: Is the business relational? Are they rooted in Indigenous values and community needs? Is the business restorative-- does it aim to support their employees so that they can close their own racial wealth gaps? Is there 7th generation impact to Indigenous families, communities and economies from their business--is it regenerative? And is it revolutionary? Are they game-changing, are they solving a problem?

What is different about Native Women Lead is they believe Indigenous women and trust them from the get go, which is vastly different than the  institutional racism within financial institutions that expects people to prove their trustworthiness through meeting the 5 cs of credit that many Native women borrowers are unable to meet. Their approach is, "lets do this together, and lets show the systems that we are phenomenal and we are investable."

NWE is focused on growing a healthy waterway that provides a broad circle for support for Native women stepping into their power as entrepreneurs, leaders, and ultimately the backbone of their communities. They are emerging as entrepreneurs and leaders, weaving community, culture and resources together to empower one another to manifest change.