Slave Lake business woman makes waves in marketing world

A local marketing entrepreneur is getting noticed outside of Slave Lake.

Chana (pronounced Shawna) Trudel runs Truly Creative Marketing in Slave Lake. She was one of the people interviewed for the upcoming episode of Still Standing on CBC. The tentative air date for the episode is Oct. 17, 2023.

This was connected with her memories of the Slave Lake fire. On a business front however, she’s getting even more recognition.

Indigenous SME Business Magazine ran an article on her.

Trudel is a finalist for the 2023 Pow Wow Pitch Entrepreneur and Alberta Women Indigenous Entrepreneur awards (AWIEW).

“It’s a show very much like Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den but for Indigenous Entrepreneurs specifically,” says Trudel of Pow Wow Pitch.

Trudel is in the top 14 for the AWIEW award.

She says, “They only offer four separate awards for all women entrepreneurs in Alberta! Being top 14 is such an amazing recognition and I am so thankful.”

AWIEW award ceremony is in October and Pow Wow Pitch is in November.

Trudel was “born and mostly raised in Slave Lake,” she says. “I did some time in Saskatchewan and BC, but came back.”

She is Métis. She grew up around the culture and volunteering. Recently, she’s become more involved.

She has started to “dive back in to really embrace that culture for me and my son,” she says.

This includes teaching beading workshops with Métis Nation of Alberta Region 5. Her company also does their marketing. She has also taught entrepreneur skills at a local high school.

“I’ve also been embracing ADHD,” she adds. “I was diagnosed almost two years ago. I’ve always felt different and off. I can use it to my advantage.”

Trudel has been very open on social media about her diagnosis, the challenges and strengths of ADHD.

“I’ve actually helped five other women get diagnosed,” she says.

Trudel has a few staff.

She describes them as “all Métis women and all neurodivergent. In the creative space, a lot of the women are neurodivergent.”

ADHD Aware a website out of the United Kingdom says, “Neurodiversity is a term that refers to the natural differences between people and was coined in the late 1990s by Australian sociologist Judy Singer. It can be compared to terms such as race, culture, class and gender and is useful to describe people with varying characteristics and behaviours of neurodevelopmental conditions alongside the ‘neurotypical’ majority in a non-prejudiced way.”

Trudel and her staff often talk about the strengths such as adaptability which come from being neurodivergent.

Trudel is passionate about breaking the stigma around ADHD and other neurodevelopmental conditions.

“Let’s embrace it,” she says. “A lot of entrepreneurs are neurodivergent.”

by Pearl Lorentzen