Tasha Abourezk—Community Voice
Tasha Abourezk is Mandan/Hidatsa and a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes. She grew up in National Parks in North Dakota and Montana. She was raised around sewers and quilters, and started sewing at age 8. She credits her grandmothers for inspiring her love of sewing and quilting, and her mom for teaching her how to be absolutely precise.
“I found that with sewing and quilting, I could utilize textiles as a means to explore my heritage and personal experiences. It was like I was stitching together my culture into a contemporary interpretation that honored the past.”
Tasha started her sewing career out as a quilter, and spent most of the time dreaming about making bags. However, she didn’t know the first thing about how to construct a bag, especially leather. After about five years of thinking about it, she finally dove in head first and hasn’t looked back since. In 2019 Tasha became the one woman show at her bag company MHAZUETSA
Mhazuetsa means sweetgrass and is Tasha’s middle name passed down from her grandma and great-great-grandma. Like the tradition of passing on a family name, Tasha creates her bags to be revered as heritage pieces passed from one generation to the next.
Tasha has lived in Nebraska almost all of her adult life. Mostly in Omaha, but has recently made Lincoln home. Tasha and her husband Rich have four kids: Sophia (19), Izzy (17) George (9) and Keya (3)