Her father made his mark in the arts community. Now his daughter is making her mark in the business community. Last night, 27-year-old Gabrielle Scrimshaw shared her story during a libraries conference at the First Nations University in Regina.
She is the daughter of well-known Aboriginal artist Glen Scrimshaw. Gabrielle was born in La Ronge, she is a member of the Hatchet Lake First Nation, and she went to high school in Duck Lake. Now, she lives in Toronto. She is co-founder of the Aboriginal Professionals Association and has been named as one of the top three Aboriginal Canadians to watch. She was also recently accepted into the Stanford Business School in California, one of the most prestigious colleges in the world. Gabrielle is optimistic about the future.
“I’m starting to see things changing with the young Aboriginal population — higher education rates, it kind of just feels like there is a perfect storm that is just happening.”
Scrimshaw says statistically she should never have accomplished what she did. She says failure rates are still way too high in the Aboriginal community, but she also has words of encouragement.
“Be proud of who you are, find strength in that identity and know that the world is out there for the taking. You just have to go out there and work hard for it.”
Scrimshaw never considered herself special. She attributes all of her success to hard work
She also says by the year 2026, more than 400,000 young Aboriginals will be entering the workforce.