{"id":47709,"date":"2025-08-15T14:19:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=47709"},"modified":"2025-08-15T14:19:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T21:19:24","slug":"native-entrepreneurs-are-changing-rez-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/native-entrepreneurs-are-changing-rez-life-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Native Entrepreneurs are Changing Rez Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Green fields and a basketball hoop line the road to Roddell Denetso\u2019s sports apparel shop in Shiprock, a town on the Navajo Nation, in northwest New Mexico. Inside, racks of uniforms take up almost half the space, and the name of his business \u2014 Black Streak Apparel, in honor of his grandmother \u2014 is painted on the wall.\u00a0

Denetso (Navajo) designs unique uniforms for teams all over the country. Many of his clients are Indigenous. For them, he incorporates tribal symbols and imagery specific to where they\u2019re from. Sometimes clients send photos of beadwork, pottery or other items for inspiration. The farthest he\u2019s shipped an order was to a military base in Japan, for a Native man\u2019s club softball team, but a lot of his orders are local.\u00a0\u00a0

\u201cSeeing the teams, when they get their uniforms, you know, and they\u2019re so proud. And I think it\u2019s just all about identity, and just those kids being seen,\u201d Denetso said. \u201cDifferent tribes, when they go places and play, it represents them.\u201d\u00a0

Growing up playing basketball on the Navajo Nation, Denetso and his teammates drew their numbers with markers on white t-shirts and traveled around western Arizona for games, just over the New Mexico border.\u00a0

Decades later, his childhood love for the sport, along with creating art, helped inspire the idea for his business, and during the pandemic, he quit his job managing a local school\u2019s print shop to pursue it.\u00a0

He\u2019s seen success in the years since then.\u00a0\u00a0

Last fall, he and his family sat down in a local theater for a special occasion: Uniforms he designed appeared in Rez Ball, a movie filmed around New Mexico that follows a Navajo high school basketball team.\u00a0

Rather than start up his shop off the reservation, Denetso made a point to stay in Shiprock, where he and his partner have raised their kids.\u00a0\u00a0

\u201cI feel like it gives the youth, or, you know, whoever\u2019s thinking about doing something\u2014because all you hear about is the red tape, how it\u2019s difficult to start a business. I just wanted them to see that it\u2019s possible,\u201d Denetso said. When he was learning how to run a business, a local nonprofit helped him out.\u00a0\u00a0

Heather Fleming (Din\u00e9) and Jessica Stago (Din\u00e9\/Apache) founded Change Labs in 2019 after holding their first event under the same name in 2013. The nonprofit runs a hub in Tuba City, Ariz., where aspiring and established entrepreneurs can connect with each other, get advice from business coaches, use wi-fi and other services, and host meetings.\u00a0
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A new hub opened in Shiprock last month.\u00a0

Change Labs offers support to all entrepreneurs, but with a focus on those trying to open businesses in tribal communities<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0

Part of the reason for that: The Navajo Nation loses millions of dollars every year in potential sales tax revenue to border towns like Farmington and Gallup.\u00a0\u00a0

In 2011, New Mexico collected about $182 million from businesses in both of those towns, while the Navajo Nation collected about $5.9 million from businesses on the 27,000-square-mile reservation, according to a 2012 report<\/a> from the nation\u2019s Division of Economic Development. It\u2019s unclear how much of those taxes were paid by Navajo consumers, the report reads, but \u201cone can still use anecdotal data and information to draw inferences from sales tax paid collectively at selected border towns.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0

Gallup acknowledged the importance of Navajo and Zuni Pueblo residents to its economy in its Growth Management Master Plan<\/a>, noting that they commute from nearby reservations to shop and work in the city. And in Farmington, the surrounding region that includes parts of the Navajo Nation made up about one-third of all retail sales in the city, according to a report cited in the city\u2019s 2019 Metropolitan Redevelopment Plan<\/a>.\u00a0

\u201cThe number that sticks out to me the most is that 65 cents of every dollar earned on the reservation is spent off the reservation, and I think that is very visible when you\u2019re based here,\u201d Fleming said. \u201cI\u2019ve been living in Denver and California for the past few years, and everything I needed was within a 10 or 15-minute drive, everything. If I wanted to go to the movies, if I needed groceries, if I needed to call an electrician. Here, all of that is many miles, sometimes hours away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Bella Davis, New Mexico In Depth Indigenous Affairs Reporter

This story is part of a collaborative series between New Mexico PBS and <\/em>New Mexico in Depth<\/a>, called Indigenously Positive. Bella Davis was the host\/producer for this episode; NMPBS Multimedia Producer Benjamin Yazza was the director\/producer; NMPBS\u2019 Joey Dunn was the editor\/producer\/photojournalist.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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