Flowing with Change: Rebranding Naqsmist with the Spirit of Water
If you’ve been following Naqsmist's journey over the past 6 months, you’ll know that this has been a time of hardship, letting go, rebuilding, and finding our place as a new version of the company we were a year ago. Our journey with Naqsmist is one that has taught our team about the values of fluidity and rejuvenation. We have had to ebb and flow with our changing circumstances, and that allowed us to build back up to where we are now.
With all of these changes and the continuing journey in mind, we have collaborated to rebrand Naqsmist in a way that feels true to our path, and honours how we’ve gotten here. Elaine’s traditional name, tiɬxnitkʷ, roughly translates to “standing by water”. Water is the source of all life, and going to the water is essential to how we heal and find the answers to life’s questions. Water is focal to the spirit of Naqsmist and has been since the start of this journey. We started with a ripple motif to showcase the meaning of our name; Naqsmist: many coming together as one. This represented water but also our intentions to create a ripple effect with Cultivating Safe Spaces that continued to grow and expand.
But progress isn't linear, and this year meant taking some steps that felt like going backwards, but allowed us to refocus our goals and intentions for our future work. We don’t just continually ripple outward, we are also flowing water, with bends and dams and waterfalls.
“Our sacred siwɬkʷ water teaches us that we have great strength to transform even the tallest mountain while being gentle, soft, and flexible.”
Okanagan Nation Water Declaration, 2014
We have traversed many obstacles over the past two years as we’ve built Naqsmist. The last 6 months in particular have been especially challenging for our team, which is much smaller now than it was a year ago. We have shifted our direction and values, and realized the importance of being fluid in order to grow and rejuvenate.
We have taken a step back from rushing toward progress in order to focus on supporting our team and building relationships with each other and with our clients and communities. The shift from green to blue in our branding represents not just water, but relates to the True Colours Personality types and our growing focus on relationships and supporting one another. We still believe in the original vision for Naqsmist, and we still have the goal of many coming together as one to make a healthier world. This new approach adds the opportunity for pivots and refocusing, allowing us to flow like water and take the twist and turns as they come.