Salt Lake City — In Utah, Letia Perry is creating more than just a children’s book—she’s building a bridge between generations with her Saad Baa Hozho: A Navajo Busy Book. Each page in this interactive cloth book encourages children and families to learn the Navajo language through hands-on activities, helping them preserve and share their heritage through play.
Perry’s journey to launching her small business, Saad Baahozho, began with a simple desire to create something meaningful. However, the turning point came when she joined the Everyday Entrepreneur Program (EEP) at The Mill, a program designed to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with essential business skills. For Perry, the EEP provided more than just practical knowledge—it gave her the confidence to take her vision seriously. “The EEP program really made me believe that I could do anything,” she says. “They’re the reason I have such a big following on Instagram for my breathwork business. They literally would tell us every class that we are their heroes.”
The EEP program gave Perry the skills and motivation she needed to transform her idea into reality. After her time in the program, she knew she had found her mission with the Navajo Busy Book. “The class helped me understand a lot of the basics,” she says. With this newfound foundation, she set out to create a product that could make a lasting impact.
The inspiration for the book is deeply personal. “My first language was not Navajo,” she explains. “It was Spanish and then English. I learned Navajo later on, but it was often screamed at me out of frustration when I couldn’t pronounce things correctly.” Driven to make language learning more fun for kids, Perry designed a book that’s accessible and engaging for young learners.
Each page of the Navajo Busy Book is made of fabric and includes interactive elements like zippers, buttons, and textures to help children develop fine motor skills while learning Navajo words. “I’ve seen kids play with the books for hours,” Perry says. “They’re great for elders too—grandparents have so much fun sharing them with their grandkids.”
Since its creation, Saad Baa Hozho has found enthusiastic support from families and schools alike. At the Navajo Nation Fair, Perry’s books quickly caught the attention of a school representative who purchased copies for classrooms, validating her vision of reaching broader audiences. Perry is now focused on expanding her reach to schools, organizations, and educational programs to help as many young learners as possible connect with the Navajo language.
Looking to the future, Perry dreams of expanding her product to include other Indigenous languages. “I already have someone interested in a Hawaiian version,” she says. For her, each book is a chance to preserve a piece of cultural identity in a world where Indigenous languages are at risk of fading.
“At the end of the day, it’s about creating opportunities for Navajo families to pass down something precious,” Perry reflects. “Language is the heart of who we are, and we can’t afford to lose it.”
Through Saad Baahozho and her Navajo Busy Book, Letia Perry is helping to keep the Navajo language alive—one stitch, one word, and one family connection at a time.