Turning pain into power: How a Cree fashion designer is working to inspire Indigenous youth

When Stephanie Gamble watched her mother model the first dress she made, smiling wide and walking an imaginary runway, she knew that was what she wanted to keep doing in her life.

A Plains Cree single mother from Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation near Duck Lake, Sask., Gamble has lived many lives.

Her Cree name is Piyesiwok-Kitow Piyesiw Iskew, which means Thundering Thunderbird Woman.

Growing up, she was surrounded by addiction and trauma, surviving time in foster care and her brother’s overdose death. She raised her siblings and became a mother, grandmother and mentor to many Indigenous youth, women and two-spirit people. 

“I basically turned my pain into power,” Gamble said in an interview in Saskatoon while she was in the city to design outfits for a youth empowerment fashion show. 

“I needed a way to heal — and fashion was my outlet,” she said. 

Amidst the addiction, family instability and intergenerational trauma that surrounded her, she “had no one to turn to … but myself and prayer,” she said.

She said she wanted to find a way to get out of that life of struggle, to heal and create a new life full of positivity, possibilities and generational health and wealth. 

“Really just get out of the victim mentality and have a victorious mentality,” she said. 

Her move into the fashion world started with a gift: a sewing machine and a bucket of fabric. Watching her mom model her first creation was empowering, she said. 

“This is what I need to do for women who went through so much in their life, to give them that empowerment and that transformation and that inspiration.”

Her first fashion show was in Saskatoon, where she lived most of her life. But soon her designs began travelling far beyond Saskatchewan, all the way to New York, Italy and France. 

She made the tough decision to move away from Saskatoon after her brother’s death left her in deep grief. She was committed to giving her kids a good life, away from addiction and trauma, so she packed up her family and moved to Calgary. 

Role model for her kids and Indigenous youth 

Gamble brings Indigenous young people with her wherever she goes. Some have never left Saskatchewan or been on a plane before. 

“You’re breaking cycles. You’re just showing them that life is worth living,” she said. “And there’s so many opportunities bigger than your backyard out there.” 

One of those youth is her niece, Heaven Angus, who modelled in New York and said the experience boosted her confidence.

“I used to be really shy, but now I can speak up. I can be confident. It’s been a really amazing journey,” Angus said. 

Fellow fashion designer Heather Boucher, also from Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation, has worked alongside Gamble on multiple projects, including fashion shows supporting Indigenous and two-spirit youth.

“I’m a survivor of residential school,” she said. “I come from a lot of trauma, but I’m taking all of that with me and using it as a tool and building strength and trying to empower others.”

Growing up, Boucher said her family didn’t have enough money, support or opportunities — so now she’s creating them for others. 

“I like to give back because that’s where I come from as a two-spirit youth,” Boucher said. 

“There’s something in just kind of harnessing your own creativity in any way you can, and just finding a really solid outlet.”  

What comes next

Gamble is opening her first storefront next year in Calgary, a milestone she once could only imagine.

The space will sell her one-of-a-kind designs, accessories and jackets, and host sewing workshops, youth empowerment classes and traditional regalia making.

Gamble said she doesn’t just measure her success on the runway, but also in the lives she touches.

“I just want young people to believe in themselves,” she said. “There’s so much possibility out there. It’s already in your reach.”