Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Thompson
Hi Dana, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
A direct descendant of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Mdewakanton Dakota tribes and lifetime Minnesota native, through my mother’s bloodline, I have worked for over a decade within the food sovereignty movement. I have engaged extensively throughout tribal communities, promoting critical ways to improve food access and implementing strategies to do the most possible good as a social entrepreneur.
Through this work, as former co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of The Sioux Chef, I managed all business development strategies for the company. In July 2021, I co-founded Owamni by The Sioux Chef, Minnesota’s first full-service Indigenous restaurant. Owamni received the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in the U.S. in June 2022. Our team was able to name Owamni Restaurant based on the specific location, thanks to a book that was published called Where the Waters Gather and the Rivers Meet, by Paul Durand. This book was dedicated to Clem Felix, Dana’s grandfather. He was the Dakota speaker who helped with the creation of this document to preserve many of the authentic native names of the Dakota Territory.
I also co-founded the nonprofit NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems). Through NĀTIFS, I developed health and wellness initiatives focused on addressing and treating ancestral trauma through decolonized perspectives of honoring and leveraging Indigenous wisdom. I stepped away from NāTIFS in 2023 to pursue other passions within the food, wellness, and entrepreneurial social impact space.
In 2024, I launched the beverage brand Heti which is designed to transport you to a place in nature, honoring our plant relatives. Heti is also using a percentage of revenue to develop sustainable housing for Indigenous community members. A low dose botanical beverage, using no refined sugars, Heti is an elegant alcohol alternative, embraced by NA consumers. When the 2018 farm bill legalized hemp derived cannabis federally, it opened up all sorts of opportunities for using leveraging this amazing plant. Then Minnesota legalized and the market blew wide open. It was exciting to have all of this possibility. Heti is packed with electrolytes and vitamin C, and will amplify a culinary experience. It’s not too sweet, instead just right.
Also in 2024, The Modern Indigenous was born, a company dedicated to creating decolonized meals in order to educate about the health and wealth of culinary knowledge within Indian Country.
I served as a founding member on the leadership committee of the James Beard Foundation Investment Fund for Black and Indigenous Americans, and currently sit as Vice Chair on the board of directors of the nonprofit Owámniyomni Okhódayapi.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Launching Owamni was one of the most challenging things I have ever done, and I am so proud of what we built. We won the RFP from the Minneapolis Parks Board, and were allowed to work in tandem with the architects and and builders who were creating a restaurant and park building in an old mill ruin on the Mississippi River in the heart of downtown.
We opened during the pandemic, and the social uprising. Staff was incredibly difficult to find. They were traumatized by the pandemic.
After exiting from that company, I decided to develop my own beverage brand. I had been excited about the n/a options coming into the marketplace with the legalization of these beverages per the 2018 farm bill. My body responds well to low doses of THC, CBD, etc… so as I started tasting the products, I was frustrated by the high sugar in these beverages. I am also a sucker for gorgeous branding, and I wasn’t finding anything that spoke to me. I wanted something healthy and gorgeous, so I decided to create Heti. Then came all of the changing regulations and complexity between state laws. Beverage is already a capital intensive business with low margins. It’s been pretty wild to begin to learn the industry.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Having been part of such a widely recognized, award winning restaurant, and being the head of these brand developments, it’s hard to pin down the 100s of influential people that have added to building something like this. Many journalists have helped raise awareness, colleagues and business operators have offered advise or support. Trustworthy staff members have become family. With regards to developing the non-profit, NATIFS, Propel was an extraordinary support system!
Pricing:
- River Path $27/four pack
- Woodland Edge $27/four pack
- Marshland Harvest $27/four pack
- Meadow Cat Nap $27/four pack
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hetiproducts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enjoyheti/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-thompson-18830519/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@drinkheti
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/drinkheti
