ESTEVAN, Sask. — Jill Ruep says her Indigenous beading business has allowed her to reconnect with her Métis roots while celebrating culture.
The Estevan-area resident is the owner of Ma Fii Lii Rasaad (Michif for My Daughter's Beads), an Indigenous-led beading business and app. As part of the business, she creates beading kits and also teaches workshops, and has the first Indigenous-led beading app in North America.
"The idea came from my own experience learning beadwork and wanting to make cultural teachings and creative opportunities more accessible, especially for youth and people living in rural communities where access to elders and beading artists isn't easily accessible," said Ruep.
Beading is only part of what she does. Ruep also focuses on sharing stories, teachings and culture.
"So the app combines traditional beadwork with technology in a way that helps preserve and share Indigenous knowledge for future generations," she said.
Registered in October 2024, Ma Fii Lii Rasaad started with small workshops and handmade kits. Since that time, it has expanded to larger events, partnerships, wholesale orders and speaking opportunities, which she has found she enjoys.
"The development of the app has also opened doors to connect with people across Canada and beyond. It's just been uphill in the past year, and I hope it doesn't stop anytime soon," she said.
People are continuously reaching out to her to ask questions. Orders come in different sizes. Since the launch of the website and the app, Ruep has reached more people.
Kits created with love
Beading is more than art or craft, she said. It tells stories, carries teachings, connects people to ancestors and communities, and for many people, it is a form of healing, identity and cultural expression.
Beadwork is worn on regalia, she said, and it's a beautiful part of Indigenous people's lives and identity.
Ruep believes she has sold about 2,000 kits in the past year. She and her family members have assembled them in her own home.
"We're creating these kits together. We're creating these kits with love and putting everything that we've got into it. So when it goes to your home or your organization, I hope it truly does put smiles on people's faces, and that they enjoy learning from them."
Kits include all the supplies people need to learn new techniques and complete beading projects, outside of common household items like scissors.
"What makes my beading kits unique is that I pre-record all of the teachings, not just the tutorials for the techniques, but I also include those meaningful Indigenous teachings to connect in our culture with the art in what you're learning."
Scanning the kit's QR code takes people to the video tutorial, she said, and it helps with the in-person workshops for groups.
"Everybody learns at different paces," she said. "So, they're able to get that hands-on experience, that in-person experience, but often nobody completes the project in an in-person workshop, so they have that tutorial to take home with them and finish with confidence and at their own pace."
It's meant to be therapeutic, relaxing and healing, and it's OK to need multiple sessions, she said.
Staying busy
Ruep tries to have one or two workshops a month. June and September are her busiest months, she said; she might have a couple per week. Ruep encourages people to book well in advance for the busiest months.
She said she continuously receives emails and phone calls from people who want to book her. She felt overwhelmed when September filled up quickly and she had to turn people away.
Southeast College and the Southeast Techhub (SETH) have been very helpful. Ruep said over the past two years, the college helped connect her with computer science students who worked on developing the app and the website.
SETH has provided mentorship through programs it provides between the Estevan and Weyburn locations. She also finished first in a SETH pitch competition in 2025, which carried a $10,000 prize, and was a runner-up at another earlier this year, providing another $5,000 boost.
"That really, really helped me fund the programs for computer science students. It helped me buy the supplies, the equipment I needed to do my vendor markets, and lots of other things."
She has been accepted as an intern with Saskatchewan Polytechnic, working with its technology readiness level-up program. It's four months long and will last until the beginning of December.
"They're connecting me with mentorship and professionals and experts in what I'm doing with my technology," she said. "They've matched me up with mentors who are really great with coding and have experience with developing apps and that applied research too."
She will be taking feedback to enhance features and determine what users want.
Métis culture is beautiful
When Ruep was growing up, she said she felt a disconnection from her Métis roots. Now she is enjoying getting to learn and reconnect with her ancestry while reclaiming her identity.
"I get to travel now. I get to put myself on little missions where I'm connecting with my elders. I'm learning from them. I'm learning from other beading artists, and I get to do that hands-on, in person with them. It's so beautiful for me to take their teachings and help pass those onto the next generation."
Her children deserve to be proud of who they are, she said, and to know their identity and their culture because Ruep said Métis culture is beautiful.
