Matte chats with Kimberly Tilsen-Brave Heart, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the owner of Painted Skye Management and owner and Head Chef at Etiquette Catering Co. in Rapid City, SD. Kim is an entrepreneurship and economic development specialist, facilitator, public speaker, trainer, entertainment manager, and chef. In this episode they talk about food as medicine, how to change your mindset around cooking, and indigenous modern cuisine. 

Complete transcript available here.

Enjoy listening to Food Revolution? Consider donating to the Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative to help us in our mission to build food sovereignty and a local foods economy to empower our tribal community through food! Donations are 501(c)3 tax deductible. 

Website: www.sicangucdc.org

Facebook: Sicangu Community Development Corporation

Instagram: @sicangucdc

Twitter: @sicangucdc

TikTok: @sicangucdc

Intro Han Mitakuyapi, and welcome to Food Revolution, brought to you by the Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative. Every other week, we'll be bringing you stories of food sovereignty from community members and tribal food producers working to build a more just, equitable, and regenerative food system for our Sicangu Lakota Oyate - the Burnt Thigh Nation. Together, we're building tribal sovereignty through food, and we've set a place at the table just for you. Join us and be part of the Food Revolution.  

Matte 00:00:29 Hi, this is Matte Wilson, back with another episode of the Food Revolution. This week, we're meeting with Kim Tilsen-Brave Heart. Kim, thank you for joining us today. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you and your background?  

Kim 00:00:44 Sure. Um, good afternoon, everybody. I'm Kimberly Tilson-Brave Heart. I'm an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe located on the Pine Ridge Reservation here in South Dakota. I'm the executive chef and owner of Etiquette Catering. We are an artisan indigenous modern kitchen located downtown Rapid City. And I am also an entrepreneurial specialist. I have been helping other people develop their small businesses for the last fifteen years and I am a mother of three.  

Matte 00:01:15 Awesome. I love seeing your posts on Facebook. Your charcuterie boards are so, so pretty. I just love it.  

Kim 00:01:25 Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, they, um, I feel really lucky, um, because the charcuterie board really helped us like transition and pivot during the pandemic, you know, ‘cause we are a very primarily events based business and when COVID hit, it was like this, everyone was calling and canceling their weddings and their reunions and all their big events. And our business went from being extremely profitable to like bleeding out money. And I tried to think of like, what could I do that is still very Etiquette and my aesthetic, but also my quality of food in a way that the average person could have it every day and you know, at least once a week. And so I kind of came up with like the charcuterie to go and it kept our doors open and that's why we're still in business. Otherwise I think we would