Michaelee Lazore opened her Sequoia store in Kahnawake in March at a new complex where they are still putting in sidewalks. CREDIT: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER, GAZETTE

At school on the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve near Cornwall, Ont., Michaelee Lazore was a math and science whiz.

When it came time for university, engineering seemed a good fit. After graduating, she worked designing traffic interchanges and storm sewers, guard rails and highways.

But Lazore soon realized something was missing.

"It lacked the creative aspect," she said of being a civil engineer. "And when I was at the computer, I was constantly looking at the clock."

Today, Lazore has completely switched gears and turned a hobby into her new livelihood. Her company, Sequoia Native Arts, produces bath and body products with Indian themes. Lazore sells them from her recently opened store, on the Web and at home parties.

At the Sequoia store in Kahnawake, south of Montreal, Lazore is adding finishing touches to her displays. She opened in March in a new commercial complex, where they are still putting in the sidewalks.

But her wooden shelves are already full of multicoloured soaps and bath bombs, lotions and lip balms, teas and candles.

Her creations include Brother of the Sun soap. The rising sun motif on the bar is coloured with red palm oil. The name is a nod to a Mohawk prayer of thanks.

Other products, such as candles, contain sweetgrass, sage and cedar, ingredients burned in traditional Mohawk "smudging" or cleansing ceremonies.

Lazore has had a while to perfect everything in her store: during her five years as an engineer, she experimented on the side with soaps and bath bombs - blocks that fizz up and release a fragrance when plopped into the bath.

"My mother had tried out making soaps, so she had some molds and ingredients," said Lazore, a lanky 31-year-old with an easy smile.

As for the bath bombs, she researched recipes on the Internet, a resource tool she also uses to develop other products.

Lazore's first attempts to create bath bombs failed. They got stuck in the molds. Or went flat. Or fizzed up too much.

A neighbour almost got stuck in his jacuzzi after a bath bomb saturated with oil greased up the tub.

Lazore gave away her botched batches at a birthday party for her daughter Leilani. Then parents started asking for them. Encouraged, Lazore continued experimenting.

In December 2002, she felt confident enough to offer some of her products - which by then included face scrubs and lip balms - at a craft show in Kahnawake.

"It surprised me how well I did," she said of the fair. "I wasn't sure someone would pay that much for soap." (The bars were $5.)

Lazore exhibited at other craft shows and kept at her experiments in her spare time, all the while working her day job as an engineer.

In January 2003, Lazore decided to take her fledgling business to the next level. She went looking for funding from the economic development agency in Kahnawake, Tewatohnhi'Saktha.

The agency receives money from Industry Canada to help residents start up and run businesses. Completing a 13-week course in entrepreneurship is a prerequisite to applying for assistance.

Lazore took the course in the evenings, learning how to do market research and prepare a business plan.

"A lot of participants have grand ideas of what being an entrepreneur is all about, that they will easily make a lot of money," said Barbara McComber, director of small-business services at the agency. "We know that's not the case."

Lazore's business plan included selling as a wholesaler, at craft shows and home parties. Opening a retail outlet was not originally part of the picture.

Last August, Lazore started organizing home parties in her community.

Katsitsaronkwas Jacobs, a friend of Lazore's, hosted a party for about 10 people. She wanted to support a friend and local entrepreneur instead of buying from a large chain.

Jacobs also appreciated knowing exactly what went into Sequoia products. "At a home party, you can sit down and she can explain the products," she said. "When you buy off the shelf, you don't realize what's in it."

The absence of heavy perfumes and animal fats in Sequoia products was appealing, Jacobs said.

The home parties gave Lazore time to gauge the popularity of her products. They also gave her a track record and persuaded her a store could be viable.

"The fact that she was already in business and had invested a lot of time and her own money spoke well for her," said McComber, whose agency extended two loans to Lazore for about $47,000.

Lazore was required to put in $10,000 of her own money and offer her car as collateral to obtain the loans.

Aboriginal Business Canada, another program of Industry Canada that assists aboriginal entrepreneurs, made a non-repayable contribution of $38,000.

Lazore has used the financial assistance to pay rent and utilities, hire a full-time sales clerk and part-time production assistant, buy raw materials, renovate her store and pay for Web-site maintenance.

Until now, she has done her own labelling, packaging and brochures using her home computer. She is currently redesigning her labels with professional help.

Lazore also sells off a Web site she designed herself using instructions aimed at kids, which she found on the Internet.

Most of her time is now taken up with production, which she still does at home.

Lazore hopes to add other products soon, including a line of mini-products for kids (9-year-old Leilani suggested this), natural makeup and massage oils. She'd eventually like to open other stores and add home parties in Montreal.

Aside from her own kitchen pots and utensils and molds she purchased at a dollar store, Lazore's only investment in production equipment has been more buckets for soap making, Pyrex measuring cups for candles and an industrial-size whisk.

These low-tech methods are a long way from the computer-assisted design she did as an engineer. But Lazore is thrilled with her career switch.

Not only does being in charge of her time make it easier to care for Leilani, her new job doesn't feel quite like a job.

"Today, I'll be working a 12-hour day, but it doesn't feel like it," Lazore said. "It feels like I'm having fun all the time."

sarahdougherty@yahoo.com

Sequoia

Kahnawake Mohawk Territory

450-638-2197

www.sequoia.ca