Northwest Indian College Alums Use Financial Knowledge to Support Native Communities

By Hannah Deadman-Arnst

For the Hayes family (Spokane), giving back is everything. Using insights they learned in college, they hope to better equip Native communities for financial freedom.

Though their mother encouraged the pursuit of higher education, the journey wasn’t easy. Estabon played football for a junior college but wasn’t focused on classes. After working various jobs, he realized he wanted more. He earned an associate’s at Northwest Indian College (NWIC) then received a bachelor’s degree in tribal governance business management in 2019.

His sister Sasha dropped out of high school and spent time in the Job Corps before taking the leap.

“I became a single mom and came home crying about my life and my choices,” she recalls. “Estabon asked me, ‘What are you going to do?’” Sasha took the advice to heart, and earned her undergraduate degree from NWIC in 2023.

Building on Business Insights

The Johnson Scholarship Foundation supports scholarships at Northwest Indian College for Indigenous business and entrepreneurship students. The scholarship enabled Estabon to cover crucial expenses during college.

For Sasha, it meant she wouldn’t have to work while taking classes.

“The scholarship was transformative,” shares Estabon, who has also founded several businesses of his own, including Hest Collaborations for custom apparel and Brick Poppa, which sells pop culture collectibles. “That was the bridge we needed to survive and continue learning.”

During Estabon’s junior year, he also joined the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Congress. The group offers professional development, networking, and other opportunities to students attending any of the 37 tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the U.S.

“Indian Country can feel small, but when you get out of your bubble, you see there are Natives everywhere,” Estabon says. “Economic development is such a major part of our life now. There are very few cultures who are that dependent upon businesses being profitable. As an entrepreneur, I want to know everything I can about building and growing a company.”

Cultivating Thriving Communities

Estabon encouraged Sasha and his mother to join him in pursuing an MBA with a focus on finance—something he believes won’t just elevate their own companies, but the broader Native community. All three will earn their degrees from Eastern Washington University in spring 2026.

They’re also developing a financial literacy curriculum for tribes in Washington State, teaching core concepts like creating budgets and saving.

“Being in Indian Country, you’re exposed to different organizations that want to help but don’t understand how to,” Estabon shares. “I’ve worked with Intuit and the largest financial companies in the world, and they don’t know how to teach financial literacy.”

The goal of their program? Engage tribes for an 18-year service, with quarterly trainings that empower local leaders to bring these same practices to future generations.

“We grew up with Natives who received $100,000 at age 18 and have nothing to show for it,” says Estabon, who now lives in the Bellingham, Washington area. “But if you have 100k and you invest it into an index fund, before age 28 you’re a multimillionaire. You can’t just tell someone that. You have to get them to want it for themselves.”

Estabon emphasizes these concepts are nothing new. Rather, it’s a reframing; instead of saving salmon or other resources, it’s dollars. He believes this resource-first approach will transform how Native people look at money.

“Most MBAs are geared toward connections,” says Estabon. “For us it’s different—we are not just gaining knowledge for ourselves. You don’t gain knowledge to hoard it—you gain knowledge to share it.”