Anishinaabek Neighbors: Ellie Mitchell, 'The Bead Lady'

Feb. 12—TRAVERSE CITY — Many titles are carried by 33-year-old Autumn "Ellie" Mitchell, but the one that makes her most proud in her community is "The Bead Kwe."

For the past decade on the original treaty boundaries of the Isabella Indian Reservation, Mitchell has operated her small business, Bead & Powwow Supply, with the aspiration to uplift other Native American crafters and communities.

For Mitchell, she said that her culture's craftwork was prominent in her upbringing, as early in age, she was taught how to bead and sew.

Her mother made regalia for pow wows, and sold traditional Ojibwe dream catchers and beadwork, often at pow wows or within their community to supplement their family's income.

"It has always been important for me to cater to Native American crafters," Mitchell said. This perspective has been important for her business practices over the years.

Many Native American families are dependent on their craftwork to either help their income, or be a sole provider for their income, Mitchell said. She understood that it was important to provide quality supplies and cultural materials specifically geared to Indigenous communities and their culture.

The road to becoming a business woman was not originally in Mitchell's plans after graduating from Michigan State University with an undergraduate in linguistics.

Mitchell said she had a really hard time finding employment, so she fell back on what her family has always known how to do — traditional craftwork. With plans to sell her beadwork, she became frustrated after having a hard time finding a single online source for the supplies needed.

Seeing a niche, she began to draft a business plan after moving back home.

"I needed to be among my community, my family," Mitchell said.

When she launched Bead & Powwow Supply in 2011, Mitchell started as a vendor booth within her community at powwows held by universities.

"At the heart of it, pow wows bring together everyone across the community, no other space does that," Mitchell said, adding that it was important for her to be able to reach everyone in those spaces.

She began to follow the pow wow trail across the nation, because she wanted to engage the communities she grew up in.

Over the years, Mitchell expanded her business from a single vendor booth to a fully operational warehouse while she studied and graduated from Central Michigan University.

In 2020, Mitchell earned her master's degree in humanities with a focus on Native American Studies and now serves as the Indigenous Community Outreach Liaison at MSU.

Her role helps connect people with resources such as grants, in the revitalization of Anishinaabemowin for communities across the region. She also has experience working for the Saginaw Chippewa Anishinaabemowin Language Revitalization Department and served on the board of directors for the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways.

Mitchell's efforts to help bring back Ojibwe culture and language to her community is driven and inspired from them, she said.

It is important for Mitchell to honor the reconnection or continuation of Indigenous craftwork. She said it brings her the biggest smile to know that she is able to help uplift contemporary artists in their own work.

Her beadwork and business can be found at powwowsupply.com