For Niverville resident and Indigenous entrepreneur Leanne Jones, the key to successful web design is more than technical skill. It’s the addition of storytelling. That combination landed her a spot as a semi-finalist in the Professional Services and Trades category for Pow Wow Pitch 2025.

Pow Wow Pitch is a nonprofit organization that, according to its website, has been “supporting and funding early-stage Indigenous entrepreneurs across Turtle Island (North America).” Jones was one of 140 semi-finalists selected this summer, each competing for a chance to win $25,000 to grow their business. 

Jones, a Cree woman of Peguis First Nation, calls Niverville home along with her husband and two sons and some extended family. She is the founder of Leanne Digital Design, a web and branding business that she operates locally. She describes the town as quiet and safe and a great place to raise a family while building a business that reaches far beyond town limits.

She says that her creativity has always run deep.

“I have been creating since I was a little girl and even have sketchbooks all the way back to Grade 6,” she says. “It was a natural progression to go into a creative field. I always enjoyed technology and playing video games. Combining art with technology naturally led to web design and graphic design.”

At Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, Jones focused on creative arts electives and later enrolled in Red River College Polytechnic’s two-year graphic design program.

But as graduation neared, a final web design project revealed a gap in her technical confidence.

“Our final project was actually a web design project, and I really struggled with it,” Jones explains. “I knew I couldn’t go out into the world like that.”

Recognizing the need to bridge the gap between technology and her artistic capabilities, she decided to face her challenge head-on.

“I then took another program called Multimedia Design, which focused on the technological aspects of design, and ended up graduating with both the graphic design and the digital multimedia design program.”

She says her education has equipped her with a strong technical foundation, but going on to build her business demands connection and community.

“I’m not naturally extroverted, but I believe it’s a skill,” she says. “The more you get out, the easier it gets and the more confidence you gain. You don’t start off confident. You get confident by doing it.”

Jones began seeking out points of connection, joining the Niverville Chamber of Commerce, and discovered Facebook groups that aligned with her experiences, such as entrepreneurial groups for women and the Indigenous.

As part of the Pow Wow Pitch, Leanne was set up with an Indigenous mentor, Phillip Crout, a technical solutions specialist for CIRA.

“I found this very valuable,” adds Jones. “We had two meetings together. I gave him my original pitch, he gave me some feedback and pointers, I revised, and then we met again to refine. It was a really great experience, especially since I often work alone, aside from my developer, who lives in Ottawa.”

Jones hopes to grow her business by hiring more Indigenous talent, adding another designer and business operations staff.

To enter Pow Wow Pitch, Jones had to create a one-minute pitch outlining her goals and aspirations. For her, this came naturally.

“As an Indigenous person, I feel like storytelling is a big part of our culture and design is another way of storytelling,” she says. “I am always considering, ‘How is a person going to react when they see a website? How am I going to tell this story?’ The messaging, the colours, the typography all plays together.”

This approach, rooted in storytelling, she notes, lends itself well to service-based and small businesses, helping clients build trust and connection through intentional design.

“What I’d like to say to other Indigenous entrepreneurs is to get out there and be seen. Our voices deserve to be heard. To do that, we have to start speaking up and be proud of what we do and the work that we create. I feel like a lot of us are a little bit shy or reserved, but you have to push yourself out there to be seen, and that will inspire others to do it as well.”