“Take chances and be courageous because we come from courageous people,” urges Luana Moar. Her spirit names are Dancing Rainbow and Heartbeat of Mother Earth and she’s part of the Eagle clan. She is from Crane River First Nation as well as Indigenous to southern Brazil and grew up in the city. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Professionally, Moar’s a small business owner, hosting wellness, land-based and cultural gatherings. She collaborates with schools and youth programs as part of after-school programs and summer camps, doing activities with the kids. Overall her clients range from grade two to twelve and even adults. She started off working with youth in programming as part of a regular job but her business got so busy she ended up delivering services on a contract basis only. Something else she does is refer clients to people in the community who can help them based on her experience growing up in the community. While she typically works under her own name, she also has a space called With the Land Medicine where people gather and share the medicine they carry.  

Recently, Moar started modelling, collaborating with Indigenous designers. She has an upcoming runway show in Japan for Japan Fashion Week as part of a fully Indigenous produced show. Ultimately, she loves spending quality time in community and hosting events.

Outside of work, Moar’s a self-proclaimed wellness nerd and very into spirituality. She attends ceremony and works with medicines, making soaps and willow dream catchers. She loves to travel and explore, having been to New Zealand to learn from the Maori and to Bali to do her yoga teacher training.  

To prepare her for this work, Moar went to a unique high school which included job shadowing and training so she could try out jobs before pursuing more education for it. Before graduation, she was mentored by elders as part of trainings in community. Attending ceremony was even considered part of her education. Something she got to participate in was a program called Students on Ice, where she got to learn about climate change in the arctic and be taught by scientists, activists, people in government and other educators on a ship. She traveled to Greenland as part of her program and she recommends students apply to participate given most people are fully funded to attend and a great resource to travel and experience the North.

Motivating her to do the work she does were the experiences Moar had growing up, being supported by aunties and uncles in community along with other mentors. She attended programs and went to ceremonies and now that she’s older, she wants to give back and create the kinds of safe spaces to explore that she enjoyed herself. She considers herself a sister, growing into an auntie role and she loves to be a support person for young people out in the world.

Thinking back to her younger self, Moar felt a lot of pressure as a young Indigenous person and the things going on in her personal life made it hard to show up to school. At the same time, some of the people surrounding her discouraged her from expressing her emotions and she was hard on herself. As the oldest sister, she felt she always had to be responsible and often she tried to be what other people wanted her to be. Over time, she felt a shift towards being more gentle and forgiving.

As far as obstacles go, Moar has found hosting spaces for others can take a lot of energy and she’s exposed to vicarious trauma. She also has challenges sometimes overcoming barriers and systems when she advocates on behalf of others. To address these issues, she smudges and cleanses at the end of the day. She takes breaks when she needs to and she tries to take good care of herself as much as possible.

When it comes to finding balance and taking care of her mental health, Moar smudges and uses a method called tapping. She says nice things to herself in the mirror, participates in ceremony including sun dance, does energy work, cries, laughs and spends time with her friends. While she’s sometimes tempted to isolate while under stress, she knows community is the best medicine. Besides, she says, “You’re never alone,” thinking of the energy on the earth and the people looking out for her and others.

Inspiring Moar are the youth she works with. “Anyone who is younger than me that I walk with are my inspirations,” she beams, talking about how honest and fierce they are. She’s learned that people know what they need the most and being a good support involves listening without assumptions. She’s also inspired by the fact that she can hold workshops involving ceremony where it used to be illegal at one time. “We come from such strong people and so that resilience is a huge inspiration,” she observes, reminiscing about how the ancestors fought to bring back legalized ceremony.  

Her advice for young people who want to be helpers in their community is to start showing up, even if it’s hard at first, and build your community that way. Eventually, people will recognize you and become comfortable with you, Moar encourages, and she recommends celebrating small successes along the way. Something she’s found helpful are podcasts with conversation starters, given she’s an introvert in her personal life but her work is so extroverted. She recommends not worrying about being socially awkward because people will more than likely not notice. Find your people and keep trying are her two key pieces of advice.

In closing, she shares words of encouragement with Indigenous youth, “If you have a dream or you have something that you keep thinking about, it comes to your mind for a reason, to not to ignore it. That's spirit, and you're so capable… If you find something that's your purpose and that you're really passionate about, then fight for it, even if it's scary.”

Spending quality time in community and hosting gatherings is more than a job for Luana Moar, it’s her calling. Sharing her teachings with people young and old through workshops and bringing people together, she has a heart for creating and nurturing community wherever she goes.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.