A spirited partnership

Navajo Spirit, a producer of Navajo traditional-inspired clothes with a modern twist in Gallup, NM, evolved out of co-owner Virginia Yazzie Ballenger’s passion for design. During the course of the company’s over-14-year partnership with NM MEP, hobby-level production evolved into a streamlined business. Working with MEP brought “a huge raise in our income as a result of inventory control,” says co-owner Carl Ballenger. “One of the big benefits of working with NM MEP and Denise [Williams],” says Ballenger, “is her relentless pursuit of us to succeed as a business.”