Alicia Velasquez: opening a small business and celebrating Apache culture locally

Alicia Velasquez, an Iowa transplant, is the first Indigenous woman to open a boutique in Iowa City. The boutique features art and jewelry inspired by Velasquez’s Apache culture.

“It’s my life,” Alicia Velasquez said about the importance of her culture.

Originally from California, Velasquez has lived in Arizona, Idaho, and Oklahoma. She eventually decided to move to Iowa City.

“Just something about it just reminded me of my childhood and I just really loved it. So I decided plant roots and get into a building,” she said.

Following her husband who found work in Iowa City, Velasquez decided to not only start her family, but also a brick-and-mortar business in Iowa City.

Prior to moving, Velasquez ran her business entirely online; she has kept many of her customers upon her move to Iowa City, she said.

“It’s just been amazing. The support that I’m getting not just with the sales but people coming in,” Velasquez said.

In her store, The House of DOTŁ’IZHI, Velasquez sells rings, bracelets, and necklaces.

Velasquez remembers that a customer gave her a water basket that belonged to her tribe because he felt it didn’t belong to him.

“Which was just, to me, meant so much because that’s something from my ancestry that I have never seen before and to actually hold it in touch. It just meant the world to me,” Velasquez said.

Velasquez has been living in Iowa City since the start of the pandemic and said she’s felt overwhelmed by the amount of support she’s received. Velasquez said she doesn’t want to lose her Native American culture and wants to be a role model to other Native American children in the community.

Sikowis Nobiss, founder of Great Plains Action Society, wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan that she hopes the Iowa City community supports Velasquez’s business and that it inspires more Indigenous business owners to build their business in Iowa City.

“With Alicia and her family setting up shop, we are breaking barriers and creating a physical space where Indigenous folks can meet, network, and feel proud of our traditions and cultures,” Nobiss wrote.

From her experience living in Idaho, Velasquez said she is used to living among white people and did experience culture shock, but now, living in Iowa City, she said wants to teach people about her culture because she sees that people are genuinely interested in learning about her Apache culture.

“One of my biggest missions here is to be able to educate and to share the truth about Native culture. And I do not know everything about all Native cultures,” Velasquez said.

In addition to opening her shop, Velasquez will teach a beading class at the Iowa City Public Library for 10- to 13-year-olds.

Growing up, Velasquez watched her dad doing beadwork, an activity he used to cope with his posttraumatic stress disorder. Watching him, she learned that beadwork could be a way to work through rough patches in her life.

“Culturally, we say beading is medicine. Art is medicine,” Velasquez said.

Velasquez remembers growing up in the Southwest as a Native American to be difficult because she didn’t see many people who looked like her.

“I was shameful of the color of my skin. I was shameful of my round face. You know, people couldn’t say my name,” Velasquez said.

As she got older, Velasquez was able to meet other Native people and immerse herself in her culture. She remembers the time her friend took her to her first powwow.

“It was just amazing because I felt the beat of the drum just was like, ‘Wow, I’m home. I’m home,’” she said.