Thursdays Downtown featured vendor: Lakota Made

(ABC 6 News) – Lakota Made LLC is this Thursdays Downtown vendor feature.

The owner, Megan Schnitker, began her business several years ago online. Schnitker is a Lakota herbalist that created this woman-owned business that goes back into her roots. Lakota Made produces sustainably harvested and grown medicines along with personal care items that provide health benefits.

Clare Carroll, the executive assistant, tells us about the origins and history of these herbal remedies.

"Medicines that we use have been used for generations. Megan has come up with a lot of the recipes on her own, but the plants we harvest and use in our products have been used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years by indigenous people," Carroll said.

Carroll also told us about how important one of its founding principles is.

"So important. We do everything we can to be as eco-friendly as possible. We encourage people to return jars and soap bags, so that we can reuse them. And we compost any ingredients that we don’t use. We when we go out and harvest the plants, we don’t take more than we need."

Schnitker was inspired to create her company to help pave the way for other indigenous women that swish to be entrepreneurs. She also wishes to share her Lakota culture through these products to everyone. Lakota made has a retail location in Mankato and will occasionally have a booth at local vendor markets.