MEADOW LAKE, Sask. — After a long struggle with addiction, Cam Leskowski managed to turn his life around and start his own Indigenous-owned golf apparel company, FORE RIGHT!
From Meadow Lake, Leskowski is a member of English River First Nation.
"I battled addiction," he said. "It affected my life, my relationships and the person I wanted to be. There were times when I struggled to see a future for myself. Today, I'm coming on three years clean."
Leskowski said he eventually turned his passion for golf into his dream job.
"For all of my 20s, it was alcohol and drugs on every weekend," he said. "I wouldn't sleep all weekend. I wasn't amounting to much. I had a good job but it was kind of a waste, and I was just kind of lost, it seemed like."
After Leskowski met his girlfriend, things started to turn around for him.
"I now had four kids in my life by meeting my girlfriend," he said. "And then we had one of our own shortly after meeting. So now I'm up to five. I was trying really hard prior to meeting her but I wasn't getting anywhere. I'd always relapse. Then she just sat me down and kind of said, 'We can't do this with four kids involved and I'm pregnant with the fifth.'
"That was my wake-up call," the 35-year-old said. "I made a point of changing my life right then and there."
Leskowski said golf also helped change his life, and he soon started designing golf apparel to start his own business.
"I fiddled around with designing logos before, because my first passion was actually art," he said. "Then I was like, I can start with this. I could do something with this. I contacted some suppliers, just fiddling around with the idea. I did some rendering and I liked the design. So I was like, I'm going to find a way to start this. I got my first order in the first few months and I kind of just went with it."
His golf apparel is now available at forerightgolf.ca.
Today, Leskowski encourages people struggling with addiction not to give up.
"If you can find something and hold on to it to push you through the hard times, then you clamp on with everything you have and you make it," he said. "Honestly, once you are past a few months, then the months blow by. If you have that drive, the grass is so much greener on this side than where you're at now."
Leskowski is thrilled to now have his own golf apparel business and a new start to his life.
"I'm proud of what I've accomplished so far," he said.
