I met Nadia in the summer of 2014 and we instantly became best friends. She is just one of those people you instantly like – genuine, caring, authentic and passionate about issues close to her heart, especially when it comes to advocating for Indigenous rights. I have had the pleasure of watching what her passion and determination has achieved in such a short amount of time. When I met Nadia, she was only thinking about pursuing acting as a career and how to bring more awareness to Indigenous issues. Fast forward five and a half years later and she has been a part of several incredible films and projects that do just that. Her Water Drum was Nadia’s first short film that premiered at the Toronto imagineNative festival and at the LA Skins Film Festival in Los Angeles where she won the Achievement in Acting Award. Nadia also attended the Red National Film Festival where the short film she was in, “Uncolonize” was being showcased. Her latest short film, Along the Water’s Edge, will be premiering virtually at Canada’s Film Festival June 6th, 2020.
Nadia is also an active Ambassador with MotiV8 Canada (Influencers Motivating Influencers/IMI) which works collaboratively with influencers and public figures to bring awareness around mental health and wellness in Indigenous communities. She was part of their team that spent a few weeks in the NorthWest Territories earlier this year, engaging youth in Wellness film workshops and teaching communities about film making and art. What Nadia has accomplished in such a short amount of time is truly inspiring and a testament to her passion for film and a deep desire to bring awareness to Indigenous issues. As she taps deeper into her potential, I can only imagine what she will achieve in the coming years.
-Bio written by Robyn Ojala – Sister from another Mister
What ‘hood are you in?
(laughs) I definitely can’t call The Town of Oakville the Hood, anyone who has ever been here will understand. It was a culture shock for me when I first moved here, it’s the ultimate of Suburbs (laughs).
What do you do?
I’m an Actor, Activist and Therapist
What are you currently working on?
There may be something more down the line for our kids show, CAMP COWABUNGA… but I can’t release details at the moment, but definitely stay tuned. As for my Activism piece with Influencers Motivating Influencers (MotiV8 Canada), we are working on PSA’s and creating virtual community events to help keep people entertained and laughing. We are waiting for the travel ban to be lifted, so we can get back out engaging with Communities.
Where can we find your work?
Camp Cowabunga can be seen on YouTube or the Camp Cowabunga Website. Most of the TV series I’ve been featured in are playing reruns on Discovery ID, and History. As for my film Along the Water’s Edge, you can catch it in Various Film Festivals. It recently premiered at the Canadian Film Festival on June 6th on Super Channel Fuse, and screened at the Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival which is based out of Halifax. You can also check my IMDb for my filmography.
