As an artist, Jesslyn Friday knows you don’t have to pick the right path right away, you can always craft a new one later. Her mother’s family comes from Seine River First Nation and her father’s family comes from Big Trout Lake. She lives in Thunder Bay where she goes to Lakehead University as a third year fine arts student. That’s not where her post secondary journey started though.

After graduating from high school, Friday received an Indigenous leadership scholarship to University of Ottawa but only stayed for one year. She found it too isolating and disconnected from an identity perspective. Living in a dorm with few supplies, she wasn’t making art and it was emotionally painful for her. She was socially isolated, focused on school all the time and hadn’t made any friends.

Friday decided to transfer to Lakehead after doing some research around what might be a better fit. While it’s a choice she made on her own, she does recommend getting support around choosing a school. Transferring between schools, her scholarship didn’t come with her because her grades weren’t high enough. Upon arrival at her new school, she dove into studying arts.

For work, Friday sells her art at craft fairs and works as a visitor services attendant at the Thunder Bay art gallery. It’s a job she enjoys because she loves seeing the art and meeting new people. As a youth council member ENAGB, she addresses emerging issues and leads programming like birch bark harvesting.

When it comes to obstacles, Friday was mistaken thinking that she had to leave home and go to a big university in order to be successful. What she found instead was that she was more successful and found more connection to people, language and culture at home in Thunder Bay. At the same time, it hasn’t been without challenges. She’s struggled to find balance between school, work and life while living at home. As far as her mental health, she’s found playing video games helps turn off her brain, relax and keep her from thinking about work and school.

If Friday could have received any advice, she wishes she had been told to gentle parent herself and talk to herself in her head as if she’s a little kid. She feels she would have benefited so much from that advice given the many challenges that come from being an Indigenous youth in university. She would want to tell herself to be compassionate, prioritize self care, sleep, nutrition, and connection with others, particularly given the state of the world.

Thinking of the sources of her inspiration, Friday looks to Quill Christie-Peters, She’s currently doing a program inspired by her and she’s learned a lot from her in her Indigenous youth residency. She learned to overcome her shame as an Indigenous youth and about the impacts of colonialism from her insights.

To inspire Indigenous youth, Friday would like to say, “Stay true to yourself and believe in yourself. It seems like a very generic thing to do, but especially when you're with the culture, you'll know what's right for you is right for you once it happens.”

Most of all, Friday wants youth to know they are not alone, urging them to “just have that trust and faith that you're safe and you're cared for by not just your family, but your ancestors that are not here, and everyone else. There's a whole community rooting for you, and you don't even know it yet.”

When her first school wasn’t the right fit, artist Jesslyn Friday created a new path to somewhere more aligned. Now a fine arts student at Lakehead University, a visitor services attendant at the Thunder Bay art gallery and an artist who sells her own work at markets, she found her way back home to her passions. Finding balance has been a challenge, but finding the truth that she didn’t have to leave home to find success has been the reward.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.