EXPO RAW INTVU

The Balanced Indigenous Health and Wellness Expo was created to share the importance of Indigenous culture in health and wellness. It is the first year of the event and it is being held at West Edmonton Mall, which attracts a large number of people. The event features Indigenous fashion designers, models, dancers, and drumming groups, providing a platform for them to showcase their talents and businesses. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10, with discounted rates for youth and seniors. Everyone is welcome to attend. The very first question I have for you is, can you tell me about this event and why it started? Yeah. So, the Balanced Indigenous Health and Wellness Expo was created by Inspire Group of Companies, which is owned by Karen McCarthy, and she had the idea of this business a few years ago as she was working on her own healing journey, reconnecting with her culture, and she realized that the foundation of health and wellness is so encompassed within our Indigenous culture, and she really wanted to share that, not just with other Indigenous people, but with also non-Indigenous communities as well, and create a space where everybody felt comfortable to come together and learn about that. Yeah. So, my next question for you is, how many years has this event been going on for? This is the very first year that it's been going on. As I mentioned, Karen had this idea a few years ago, so it took her a bit of time to kind of bring it all together. Perfect. So, since you did mention it's the first year, what are you guys excited for? Well, yeah. What are you guys excited for, as it is being the first year and being held somewhere like West Edmonton Mall, where a lot of people come in? And I feel like that's where Edmonton gets a lot of traffic, so I think that's the perfect location. Yeah. So, they get 20,000 people come through the mall per day, so that's exciting in itself. And I'm super excited, and I don't know if you guys are as excited as I am, but I'm super excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. 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This is all helping them as performers, as entrepreneurs, as business owners, as speakers. It's helping them to get their businesses and names out and it's also getting their messages out to other Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people. When that kind of communication or that communication happens within an event, magic happens. For sure. The last question I'm going to ask you is for someone that might be interested in going, what should they know before they come? They should know that they can purchase tickets at the door. The tickets are $10 per person and they're only $5 for youth and seniors and they should know that everybody's welcome. For sure. Well, thank you very much for answering my questions. I'm just going to stop my recording.