0:00

Greetings , friends , and thank you very much for joining

0:02

us . Now , in keeping with past episodes

0:05

, we're going to continue our focus on Adventures

0:07

2024 , happening this

0:09

May 29th through 31st

0:11

. Be there or be square , friends

0:13

, it's going to be fun . And speaking of fun

0:15

, my next guest is just that and a

0:17

whole lot more . So

0:19

sit back , settle in . You're going

0:21

to dive a little bit into what

0:24

happens behind the scenes . Welcome

0:38

to Shift

0:41

. Today's

0:45

guest is Hunter . Cardinal Hunter

0:48

will be the MC for InVentures

0:50

2024 . Hunter , it's

0:52

a pleasure to have you today .

0:53

How are you ? I'm doing so good . I am

0:56

full of chocolate

0:58

and scallop potatoes from the holidays

1:00

, so I'm doing well , doing

1:02

a lot of digestive enzymes

1:04

and lactate , but I'm happy .

1:06

Yeah , that's right , we're just coming out of a long weekend , so

1:09

tell me a little bit . Give me a

1:11

little bit about your background . I want it . We're going to

1:13

be diving into adventures in a bit . I know

1:15

you run a company with your sister . You're

1:18

an entrepreneur . Give us some sense of

1:20

who Hunter Cardinal is . Oh gosh

1:23

.

1:24

I'm just a mess . No

1:31

, I on a little bit about who I'm from . On my dad's side we're Sagawe-Nuak , which means woodland

1:34

Cree from the Sucker Creek Cree , first Nation

1:36

, and Métis peoples up in

1:38

Treaty 8 territory . So I always like to think

1:41

about those stories and folks that I'm connected with up

1:44

there . Like

1:46

to think about those stories and folks that I'm connected with up there and then on my

1:48

mom's side with this really like tasty mix of Polish , french

1:50

, russian by way of New York . So

1:53

it got some really cool . Yeah , it's a very

1:55

specific mix , but you know we have beautiful

1:58

stories from both sides

2:00

of the family . My favorite thing to

2:02

talk about too is like on both

2:04

sides they really nailed the carbs that

2:06

they eat like in terms of like bannock

2:08

and uh and bagels , so yeah

2:11

, and then , yeah , you get some moose meat in there too

2:13

. It's like um , but that's . You know

2:15

, uh , a little bit about , about who I'm from

2:17

and I'm based here in uh , amisco , chihuahua , sky

2:19

gun or edmonton , and uh

2:21

, yeah , I've been calling this place my home for

2:24

as long as I've been a human

2:27

adult and

2:29

person . And you know my sister

2:31

, her and I , we run

2:33

the company Nehewin , which

2:35

is a social enterprise that's based here

2:37

in Edmonton , and

2:40

we basically offer some

2:42

really cool , scalable ways

2:44

of helping folks take

2:46

steps on this journey towards

2:48

and beyond reconciliation . And we

2:50

have like an online course

2:52

which we released last summer , which we're

2:55

really excited about . It's like an hour

2:57

long , it uses storytelling , gamification

3:00

and it gives people that platform

3:02

to sort of jump off and

3:05

learn more and then have like structure

3:07

to actually do things when it comes to

3:09

reconciliation and

3:12

sort of writing the relationship

3:14

between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples

3:16

, and that's like kind

3:18

of what we do and what we

3:20

have been doing . And you know , also , outside

3:22

of that , of that too , I have like a hilariously

3:25

long background of uh improv

3:28

and uh theater too . So

3:30

, yeah , exactly , okay , that's where

3:32

that's yeah , yeah , yeah , yes

3:34

and um and uh are we ?

3:36

are we going to see some of this improv in action on

3:38

the uh may 29th to 31st you ?

3:40

know it and you're seeing it right now too , so

3:43

that's fun . No , yeah

3:45

, so that's basically it . I just love

3:47

storytelling and being able to help

3:50

bring people together . So

3:52

that's a little bit about me and what the heck

3:54

I get up to and what's your sister's name . My

3:56

sister's name is Jacqueline , or Jackie

3:59

Jackie .

3:59

Yeah , okay , and so now you and your sister run

4:01

the company and Naheo went

4:04

based in Edmonton here . So how long has

4:06

the company been around for ?

4:15

Oh my gosh , I think we started up officially and I'm

4:17

bad with dates , but I'm pretty sure it was around like 2016

4:19

. That's when we started up , yeah , and we were on a journey of

4:21

supporting folks through digital

4:24

marketing and sort of that media development

4:26

. And then we , over time , I

4:28

got into the wonderful world of joining

4:30

up with organizations doing

4:32

work that would engage with indigenous

4:35

ideas or communities , and that's where

4:37

we started doing consulting . But the whole time

4:39

, you know , my sister and I are big

4:41

, big story nerds . We love history , we love

4:43

trying to be of help and

4:45

that's how we sort of came to education

4:48

. Because there's such a hunger and

4:51

, I think , a need for folks to be able to

4:53

place themselves in this sort of

4:56

larger story that they're connected to

4:58

and , yeah , feel grounded

5:00

and rooted in turbulent

5:02

times and times have been

5:04

turbulent .

5:05

They certainly have been , you know , and that's that's

5:07

a really deep perspective , that notion

5:10

of story , understanding where

5:12

you sit within that larger narrative and

5:15

using that as a grounding point .

5:17

And there's so many rad stories out

5:19

there that I've been lucky

5:21

to learn about that are all about , you

5:23

know , the wonderful not

5:25

only healing but beautiful

5:27

things that can come from just being able

5:29

to tell the story of who

5:31

you have been , who you are

5:33

and also where you're going , and that dynamic

5:35

process that that all changes

5:38

and unfolds . So heck , yeah

5:40

, right .

5:41

And now when I think about that even more broadly

5:44

, and now let's , I don't mean , I hope

5:46

I don't sound like I'm diminishing storytelling

5:48

from the perspective we're talking

5:50

about right now , but when we start thinking

5:53

about within the context of inventors , where

5:55

you have businesses , technology

5:58

know

6:03

, arguably bottom line

6:05

is making money . You know

6:07

hiring people being a successful business

6:09

. But a lot of people are introducing

6:13

their business or their technology for the betterment

6:15

of society . So there's a

6:17

story in there as well and

6:19

it's critical that people learn to

6:21

tell those stories too . You know

6:23

, know , because now it's a larger group of people

6:25

and what's their narrative and how

6:27

that goes forward . So again , I hope I didn't , I

6:30

hope I'm not diminishing that , not at all .

6:32

no , I think there's a really interesting

6:34

quote that blew my mind . I have

6:36

to figure out who said it and what was the context

6:38

, but it was a long time ago . It was

6:40

like an indigenous emissary in turtle island

6:42

talking to I

6:44

think it was either like England

6:47

or France at some point , so it was

6:49

like early on , or it could be more

6:51

recent , during the fur trade . But

6:54

they said peace and trade

6:56

we take to be the same thing . So

6:58

this idea of how do you support

7:00

the community , how do you help

7:03

those that need it , how do you really

7:06

find out how to thrive and be in

7:08

relationship with the place that you're in

7:10

, with what it is that you do , the

7:12

responsibilities that you have , that's a really

7:15

old story that we're

7:17

still a part of , and I think that that's really

7:19

cool to think about , because then , when

7:21

we're talking about inventions

7:23

, when we're talking about things that are going

7:26

to change , recognizing that we've

7:28

been in that delicious state of change

7:31

and , you know , understanding

7:33

the impacts that we make and course correcting

7:36

and trying to course correct , you know that's

7:38

, uh , not just our challenge of our

7:40

time , but that's the challenge of of

7:42

being a person , a human .

7:44

Um , so yeah , Wow , I love

7:47

that . That's . That's really really cool . So

7:49

now , what

7:51

can people expect from

7:53

you as an MC ? You're talking

7:56

about you've , you've got this great background in storytelling

7:58

, this great background in , uh

8:00

in um , theater , theater

8:02

sports , that you know the theaters but

8:05

I love that expression , theater sports . I love that expression

8:07

theater sports , because it really is , oh

8:09

my gosh , oh yeah . So what can people

8:11

expect at InVentures ? How are you going

8:13

to help people navigate through this event

8:15

with all of these keynote

8:18

speakers ? Events , activities .

8:20

My approach to emceeing , because I've

8:22

been lucky to have helped out with

8:24

some really cool projects over the past

8:27

couple of years . One think it was

8:29

around like this time last year it was , uh

8:31

, hosting the honoring ceremony as a part of

8:33

the the junos um that was taking

8:35

place in in here in edmonton . So it's this beautiful

8:37

um uh , you know

8:39

, invited guest

8:42

sort of experience where it was all these

8:44

indigenous leaders

8:46

and community leaders coming

8:49

together to celebrate the indigenous

8:51

artists that have been nominated that year , not

8:53

to be like heck yeah , like who's going to be the best

8:55

, but like look at storytelling , look

8:57

at music , look at the connection that these folks have

8:59

been really

9:01

, really creating and let's celebrate

9:04

that . So I got to be the

9:06

MC for that , which was super fun . I

9:08

got to do stuff for

9:10

the hydrogen convention that was happening here in Edmonton

9:12

too , around that year . So my

9:14

typical approach is like , honestly

9:17

, it's just trying to be the little

9:20

brother to the audience , if

9:22

that makes sense . I think it's out of a

9:26

need to figure out how to do hosting

9:28

um in a sustainable way . But , like

9:30

, the more authentic one can be

9:32

when doing something like that , the more

9:34

uh aware that they are

9:36

just a person saying words , introducing

9:38

other people that are saying words , trying

9:41

to make sure that things run on time , uh , I think

9:43

it can help things uh be , uh

9:46

be really smooth , but then also create a

9:48

space for other people to show

9:50

up as themselves authentically

9:52

and listen and learn and get what they need to . So

9:55

that's what I always , always try to think

9:57

about and you know , when I've

9:59

called my sister , nervous before

10:01

every single one of those and

10:03

seeing things and there hasn't

10:06

been a time where I haven't been like terrified Um

10:08

, she's always just reminded me of just like , just

10:10

remember you're trying to be , um , a

10:12

helper and a Scorpios , um , it's a

10:14

Cree word for being a ceremonial helper

10:17

, and we use it in that sense Cause

10:19

, you know , gathering and being a

10:21

, a part of this process

10:23

of bringing ideas and people together

10:25

, that is , in our perspective

10:27

, ceremonial work um , so she's

10:29

just like remember you're a helper , that's what you're there

10:31

for , um , so they'll get just

10:34

this , uh , this eager guy , uh

10:36

, that's there , trying , trying his best

10:39

, um , but yeah , you know , what really seems

10:41

to me , um , that you're

10:44

almost from how we've been talking

10:46

, in the sense I'm getting .

10:54

you're going to be a keynote speaker without being acknowledged

10:56

so much as a keynote speaker Was Ascopios . Did I pronounce that right ? Ascopios

10:58

is beautiful . Yeah , absolutely . I love that notion

11:00

of a helper and being reminded of that

11:02

. You know , and there's so many times in

11:04

life that we can play that role . You know , and there's

11:06

so many times in life that we can play that role and , like most people , we get

11:08

worked up and anxious about having

11:11

to present in front of a large group of people

11:13

or having to speak . Do you often

11:15

touch base with your sister first ? Is she like a touchstone

11:17

for you ?

11:18

Oh yeah , like I'm texting her the whole time Just

11:22

like I got to the venue , like it's almost like

11:24

this diary sort of relationship

11:26

on those days where I'm just like I'm nervous about

11:29

this , or hey , this is going well , or um

11:31

, I have my gum and I like it

11:33

, things like that . But you know , she's , she's

11:35

been such a a support to me

11:37

in that sense for these things , but I , I

11:39

, I really just uh , yeah , I'm really thankful for

11:41

that , but yeah , no , she's she's kept

11:44

well up to date of of what's

11:46

going on actually , and then

11:48

also emotionally too yeah , no , that's good

11:50

.

11:50

So it's like a um , a

11:53

support system , and you know

11:55

that everybody should have , and it's really

11:57

cool that it's your business partner

11:59

and your sibling well , because there's .

12:01

There's so many cool things that

12:03

happen during events

12:05

that a lot of people don't know , and I usually

12:07

find that , like the things that are unexpected

12:10

, um , that you have

12:12

to make space for being

12:15

able to prepare yourself to , to

12:17

recognize that you know . That's what it's about

12:19

, that connection to the moment , um

12:21

to the people involved in that moment , it

12:24

it's kind of what makes or breaks um

12:26

an event . I would say , and it's like this

12:28

, it's really counterintuitive because

12:30

it requires you to be showing

12:33

up in a more of a vulnerable way

12:35

. But , like , from what I've been told , like you never

12:37

leave yourself or your stories

12:39

out the door , and that was actually one of the most , um

12:41

, uh , influential things that

12:44

um a mentor of mine , the late Brent

12:46

Carver , shared with me , um , when

12:48

I was doing my first professional shows . He's

12:50

just , like you know , a lot of the times we're told to

12:52

you know , just be present in the moment . But

12:55

like you have to be present in the moment with like literally

12:57

so many different levels of what's happening

13:00

in that moment , what's supposed to happen um

13:02

, how that night is going in

13:04

relationship to the show , how

13:06

people are saying things , it's all different and

13:08

unique and the more that you can kind of show

13:10

up and be present for that , the better . So

13:13

I I usually find , you know , practicing

13:15

that with my sister by just yeah , texting

13:17

her beforehand is super helpful .

13:19

Now that's interesting , the points you're making

13:21

about being present but also being aware

13:24

of kind of all of those contingencies that

13:26

can happen . If you were to quantify

13:31

your approach

13:33

, say rationality

13:35

and planning versus

13:37

improv and spontaneity , how

13:39

would you describe it ? How would you describe your approach

13:42

?

13:42

I would say you are basically…

13:45

it's

13:48

like you're hosting like a

13:50

dinner party for friends and family and

13:52

like there are the structural things that you

13:54

need to have , like you know , like

13:56

the food , the places

13:58

for people to sit , there are other

14:01

things that are sort of less important

14:03

but that are still needed . Structure so that

14:05

you know you can have a good time . But

14:07

then you also have to be mindful

14:09

of , like you know , who are the guests , you

14:12

know what would make them feel comfy and welcome

14:14

. You know what is most important for

14:17

this gathering Is it actually the food or is it the

14:19

conversation ? And

14:21

so I would say it's a balance

14:23

between giving yourself the structure that

14:25

you need to know how the show's going

14:27

to go , so that you can have space

14:30

for , um , things to be

14:32

, uh , their unpreferred creative

14:34

alternatives . Um , because , as

14:36

, as we say , the show must go wrong . Um

14:39

, but if you're there , it can be really a

14:41

beautiful gift um to to be

14:44

present right ?

14:44

yeah , well , I've always , I've always loved

14:46

the uh , I've always loved thinking

14:49

about that , that point

14:51

between spontaneity and improv

14:54

and you know

14:56

the planning . Because , like

14:58

in business and I'll keep kind of

15:00

making these analogies back to business

15:02

you've got to be nimble

15:04

, you know , you've

15:07

got your plan , this is how we're moving

15:09

forward , but , in the heat of the moment , something's

15:11

going to happen , you got to be able to , you

15:14

know , be able to function in a spontaneous

15:16

way to provide , you

15:19

know , something of value yeah .

15:20

So it's almost like you're you're preparing as much as you

15:22

can to just drop everything like

15:24

. That's why I think for me , you know , showing

15:27

up as as um , you

15:29

know as professionally as one can

15:31

, as a hot mess , um , I

15:33

think it's really important because you're not

15:35

carrying with you the expectation of what should

15:37

be , but what is and

15:40

you've done the preparation and I

15:42

actually did a lot of work

15:44

with this is a very specific

15:46

thing . That is a deep dive , but

15:48

isn't that important to the conversation . But

15:51

it's important for me to know that . You know , um

15:53

, I did a bunch of work on eye

15:55

tracking , which is like how

15:57

well my eyes will scan . You

15:59

know , uh , the words that I'm reading

16:01

on a page , cause I've I've always struggled

16:03

with reading and I actually found out it was connected

16:05

with you know me being undiagnosed

16:07

with ADHD for a while but started

16:10

to do more work on

16:12

just getting better at

16:14

scanning and cold

16:16

reading and I found that that was wild

16:18

, because the more energy that I was able

16:20

to save through more

16:23

effective reading , the

16:25

more energy you have for deeper

16:27

comprehension , for presence , for

16:29

moments of levity and humor humor

16:31

and keeping things light and then also knowing

16:33

when to pause , when things uh , when that

16:35

space is sort of needed too .

16:37

So , um , yeah , it's been , it's been super

16:39

interesting yeah , and that's exactly why I think you're going

16:41

to be the uh , the unannounced additional

16:44

keynote to this . I think there's a lot of wisdom in

16:46

what you're saying and there's a lot of really great things that people

16:48

can glob onto , whether , as you

16:50

know , as individuals , as part

16:52

of a collective , for a business , part

16:55

of a community , and I think it's it's critical

16:57

that uh , in my own opinion

17:00

, that we kind of present our authentic

17:02

selves and , you know , rather than

17:04

here's me at work or here's

17:06

me in this situation and here's me in

17:08

this other situation , it's totally different .

17:11

Yeah , I think if I were

17:13

doing a keynote it would be like the

17:15

millennial approach to mitigating failure

17:18

by Hunter Cardinal .

17:20

Yeah , oh , I hope you expand

17:22

on that . You know what let's , let's

17:25

, let's have . Let's meet again

17:27

at adventures , cause somebody will be running this on site

17:29

, the podcast , and let's talk about

17:31

that . Yeah , absolutely , yeah . Adventures , because I'm going to be running this on

17:33

site , the podcast , and let's talk about that . Yeah , absolutely , yeah . Yeah , hunter cardinal on his toes

17:35

. We'll just rattle off a bunch of stuff and see this , uh

17:37

, yeah , what , what is uh ? See if you develop

17:40

your thesis what , how , how is how

17:42

?

17:42

are things going expectedly and

17:44

how are they going unexpectedly ? And

17:46

then , and then , yeah , because that's that stuff

17:48

, like , sometimes you don't get , um , get

17:50

speakers arriving at the time that they do Some

17:53

need to change . Sometimes

17:55

things are hilariously late and you

17:57

just got to go for it . So

17:59

it is cool to be able to be like yeah

18:02

, this process is

18:04

still unfolding , right yeah , even

18:06

in that moment .

18:07

So , having said everything

18:09

that you've said , how do you prepare ? Now

18:11

We've got what are we now ? April

18:14

, april 2nd , so

18:17

adventures in in what ? 57

18:19

days , I think , if my math is somewhere

18:22

around something like that .

18:23

Yeah , I , I would say , with the events . It's like

18:26

the drywall effect where , like , you don't

18:28

really have very much , you have the frame

18:30

, you have the understanding of what it is you're going for

18:32

, and then you're waiting on certain things

18:34

so that you can then get the drywall up and then , once

18:36

you do , it's like you have a full on home . So

18:39

right now , this process is about

18:42

sinking into what is the vibe

18:44

that we want people to feel

18:46

when they are at inventors . What

18:49

do we want them to walk away with

18:51

? They are at inventors , what do we want them to walk away with ? And how can we

18:53

start preparing for that core

18:55

to be supplemented with the

18:59

keynotes , the programming

19:01

, the actual script itself , and

19:10

that kind of stuff is , once again , always in service of that core , mission and vision that we have . So

19:12

it's a lot of sinking into that intent , which I always find simplifies

19:14

things . But once we start having

19:17

more of the script , it's about getting

19:20

into the wonderful world of wordsmithing

19:23

and being

19:25

able to align

19:27

the story that we're telling

19:29

as me as a MC

19:31

, but also in the different

19:33

speakers that we have . What are

19:36

we saying to introduce them , what's necessary , what's

19:38

not necessary , and

19:40

then , once we get further on in the process

19:42

, it's about on the day of

19:44

how can you show up to support

19:46

the work of people

19:49

doing the mic checks , of the tech

19:51

requirements , of making sure the speakers

19:53

know who to talk to . I love

19:55

being a , an MC , that that that

19:57

gets in uh , they're in a in a boundary

20:00

way , but that people know if they're doing

20:02

a keynote that they can come talk

20:04

to me or if they're doing like a , a land

20:06

acknowledgement of some sort , helping with

20:08

pronunciation , um , and being that ear

20:11

for folks to be able to practice

20:14

things so that they have that confidence when they get

20:16

out there . So that's kind of where we're

20:18

at right now it's in the process of nailing

20:21

down that run a show and that scripts

20:23

, but I think we're really set on

20:25

wanting to create a space to get people

20:27

excited about what it is that they're

20:30

doing , about the future and

20:32

really building those good relationships moving forward

20:34

.

20:35

So now , what are you looking forward to most when

20:37

you think about this event ?

20:39

I like . Personally , I just love being

20:41

a part of something that's a bit bigger

20:43

. You know , when I've been on sets

20:45

for , you know , commercials or small

20:47

projects in film and

20:50

theater , it feels like you're part of this really

20:52

wild carnival that's happening and

20:54

it just everything feels alive and you

20:56

have your special role , uh , regardless

20:58

of how big it is , Um , and you

21:01

get to be sort of a a really um

21:03

integral part of a larger team . Um

21:05

, so I'm excited to just be there , um

21:08

, on the day of , I'm excited to

21:10

have my little

21:12

mushroom coffee

21:14

for calm

21:16

energy beforehand in

21:19

the little green room that I have in

21:21

the venue . But I think , on

21:24

the day of , when it comes to the whole

21:26

event , I'm excited for just

21:29

being inspired by the rad

21:31

folks that will be gathering there . I

21:33

think that this area , this part of

21:35

the world , is such a beautiful gathering

21:38

place and it always has been so

21:40

getting to see people coming from

21:42

like all over to share

21:44

some of the coolest solutions that they

21:46

have to the problems affecting all of us

21:48

. Being a part of that .

21:50

to me , there's this beautiful energy

21:52

that is so delicious

21:55

, that is so uh wonderful that

21:57

I'm really excited to to being uh connected

22:00

with well , hunter , I gotta tell you , just chatting

22:02

with you for the uh , the past 20

22:05

, 20 or so minutes that we've been chatting , I'm inspired

22:07

. I'm really looking forward to it

22:09

. I think you're going to be fantastic and

22:12

thank you so much for your time .

22:14

Oh , hi , hi . Thank you and looking forward to seeing

22:16

you all there .

22:21

Shift can be found online at shiftalbertainnovatesca

22:25

, where you can reach us via email

22:27

at shift at albertainnovatesca

22:29

. We can also be found on your

22:31

favorite streaming service . So

22:34

dive in and enjoy Until next

22:36

time . I'm John .