Age: 29
Occupation: Artist; Owner and Operator, Kamâmak
Mackenzie Brown, or Kamâmak (her Cree name), acts as a bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures and experiences — that’s her superpower. As a Cree woman from Alberta’s Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, now living in Calgary, she is passionate about sharing her lived Indigenous experiences to create cultural connections. “My knowledge as an Indigenous person and my ability to bridge these two worlds is something that’s special,” she says.
Brown is an artist, educator and tourism consultant who advocates for and celebrates Indigenous stories, voices and businesses. She served as the director of industry development at Indigenous Tourism Alberta (ITA) from 2021 to 2024, growing the organization from 37 to 175 members. Under her leadership, ITA created allyship tool kits and cultural-awareness training that empowered tourism partners to embrace Indigenous cultures. The tool kits and training have since been adopted nationally, with more than 1,000 tourism professionals trained in Alberta, alone.
Brown’s consulting company, also named Kamâmak (“butterfly” in Cree), works with companies to elevate Indigenous voices through the lens of reconciliation and promote cultural awareness within the tourism industry. As a multifaceted artist, she specializes in public murals, drumming and storytelling, and has worked with organizations like the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, BUMP Festival and the Calgary Public Library. “When we’re able to invite underrepresented and equity-deserving communities into these places, they innately share their stories, and we learn from that,” Brown says.
To further share Indigenous knowledge, Brown hosts weekly Cree language classes in her home. Her recognitions include the Alberta Assembly of First Nations’ 2019 Indigenous Woman of the Year award, Top 30 under 30 from the Alberta Corporation for Global Cooperation in 2020, and a Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Award at the 2024 Celebration of the Arts hosted by Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
“My mission is to create connections through the arts and through storytelling,” Brown says. “I believe in utilizing relationships and foundations of care to create and spark change.”
Thank yous
“My family, friends, all my relations — my plant relatives, animal relatives, those who fly, walk and have walked before me; I would like to thank the land and I would like to thank my ancestors.”
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