It’s early October, and Vancouver-based entrepreneur Joleen Mitton is juggling planning the fourth edition of Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week (VIFW) and managing the world’s first Indigenous-owned modelling agency, Supernaturals Modelling. Between programming a slate of Indigenous designers—like Himikalas Pam Baker and Patricia Michaels—and overseeing the construction of the set for the event, as VIFW’s founder and artistic director, Mitton is supporting a lineup of models who will likely walk in the shows.

Over brunch one day in late 2020, while discussing frustrations about the lack of advocates for Indigenous talent in the fashion space, Mitton, who is Cree, and her filmmaker friend Patrick Shannon, who is Haida, had decided that since a model- ling agency that prioritized the culture and history of Indigenous people didn’t exist, they’d make their own. Supernaturals Modelling agency began in earnest in May 2021 with a roster of eight models and an aim to nurture talent in a culturally safe way. “Honestly, I didn’t want to start an agency,” says Mitton. But having been on the other side of it as a model—appearing in campaigns for brands like Kenzo, Clinique and Vivienne Westwood—she wanted to create a safe space for Indigenous models to flourish, both in the fashion world and beyond. “We’re trying to offer these models protection from people who don’t understand their worth.”

A big part of Supernaturals’ purpose is to prepare these models for the industry and at the same time encourage them to have careers in other fields. “We’re at this really fascinating starting point of our business where we’ve launched without having any intention of building a big agency,” adds Shannon. “We created something to support the people we really care about, and it just blew up bigger than we could have ever imagined.”

Supernaturals launched to a groundswell of attention, and within the first month, it received more than 500 applications. It now has a roster of 30 models and is beginning to expand beyond the West Coast and into the Toronto area. The growth has been incredible, but money has never been a priority. “We come from a place where wealth [is from] your culture,” says Shannon. “If you hoard wealth, that is frowned upon because [as] potlatch people, our respect is derived from how much we give to others and how much we uplift.”

The ethos of the company is something that Sage Paul, the founding executive and artistic director of the Toronto-based Indigenous Fashion Arts festival, greatly appreciates. “They have the kind of approach where they are helping mould really solid young Indigenous women, and that’s very important to me,” says Paul, who is Dene. “I was happy when I saw Supernaturals coming out because we want to see Indigenous women [both] flourishing and being successful.”

Supernaturals is also an unorthodox agency, asking clients to sign agreements that outline how they are to work with Indigenous talent: with a foundation of respect and a commit- ment to putting the models first. Mitton also says that she has said no many times to clients that didn’t fit their world view despite their being large companies that would create plenty of work. And the criteria for the agency’s modelling roster aren’t what one would expect. “We don’t necessarily want people who 100 percent just want to be models,” says Shannon. “In fact, we prefer if you have other dreams and passions and this can be a part of building up your confidence.”

The models call Shannon and Mitton “uncle” and “auntie,” and they all gather for feasts, like a family. Supernaturals model and chef Alicia Hanton, who is Cree and from Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, can vouch for the safe environment that Mitton and Shannon have created, saying that people check in on one another, give one another rides home, talk through hard times or smudge (the practice of lighting sacred medicines like cedar, sage, sweetgrass and tobacco and cleansing someone or something with the smoke) one another. “One way [they’ve] prepared us is [by showing us that] if we’re alone—not working with other Supernaturals—we are still being taken care of because a precedent has been set,” says Hanton.

“It’s about making sure that everyone feels cared for and no one feels like they’re going to be punished or fired if their body fluctuates, because we’re humans and [because] we don’t want to subscribe to that Eurocentric way of going about things,” says Shannon. “We’ve had models who were fired from their agencies because they refused to cut their hair, [but] in many of their cultures hair is sacred.”

As with many of the Supernaturals models, Aleen Sparrow, who is Coast Salish and from the Musqueam reserve, knew Mitton before the agency’s creation. Sparrow, who works in a law firm, was courted by Mitton to walk at one of the early editions of VIFW. “I turned 37 recently,” says Sparrow. “I’m getting a little bit older, especially for the modelling field, and I’m noticing changes in my face and body. I’ve talked to Jo a few times [about having] my last shoot or my last year at [VIFW] to open more space for upcoming models, and she tells me: ‘We need representation for every age—we’re trying to change the narrative. We want people who are older, people who have thicker waistlines and people of all skin colours.’”

Despite flirting with the idea of leaving Supernaturals, Sparrow recently did a shoot for the VIFW website at the Fraser River in Musqueam. “Joleen and Patrick are this power couple when it comes to business,” she says. “They have a way of making you feel spiritually powerful. It’s not just about the looks—[it’s about how] they make you feel inside. So, yeah, I’ve decided to stay.”

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