Raven Reads is located in Kamloops, B.C. on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc (Interior-Salish Secwepemc (Shuswap) speaking peoples).
Raven Reads was born when Founder and Owner, Nicole McLaren started a book club as a gathering place to share incredible books and open a dialogue. The impacts of the book club were beautiful, which sparked her inspiration to expand this experience.
Raven Reads works to create a safe space to expand cultural awareness, learn about cultural history, and discover Indigenous-crafted products from around the globe.
“Raven Reads was founded on the premise of raising awareness of our collective histories, lived experiences, and supporting Indigenous authors and entrepreneurs. By simply subscribing to our box, you are having a tremendous impact. Since our inception, we have invested over $300,000 into other Indigenous businesses and authors across Canada and the USA.”
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: Raven Reads is an impact-driven brand. That means that much of our proceeds have an impact on the community. Through purchasing the goods for our boxes, we have invested over $300,000 into the Indigenous economy – 60% of our suppliers are woman-owned. Additionally, 70% of our suppliers are also impact ventures – meaning any profits generated from our purchases are invested back into other Indigenous communities, charities and social impact initiatives.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: Raven Reads was founded on the premise of raising awareness of our collective histories, lived experiences, and supporting Indigenous authors and entrepreneurs. Through our box curation, we have invested over $250,000 of capital back into the Indigenous economy and donated over $2,000 to Indigenous youth literacy programs.
We are a team composed of tenacious Indigenous and non-Indigenous female leaders striving to see Raven Reads reach its maximum potential and offer our customers authentic and quality products that we can be proud of.
We use 100% recyclable filling to pack our subscription boxes. Since our launch in 2017, we have grown from assembling around a hundred boxes in our Founder/CEO’s basement with just her husband and daughter’s help to now assembling thousands of boxes with a team of 3 in our Kamloops warehouse. We now have five other team members who regularly assist us in our work.
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Woman Owned, Indigenous Owned