Growing up by the Red Sea in Jeddah, Amanda Rushforth developed a deep passion for the ocean. Having seen first-hand the deterioration of the environment due to ever increasing plastic pollution, Amanda became an advocate for plastic-free oceans, wardrobes and food chains.
Amanda has been on the board of directors for local marine conservation society Azraq, a volunteer-run not-for-profit entity in the UAE, since January 2020. Founded in September 2018, Azraq, which is registered with the Community Development Authority, has been on the front lines of ocean conservation in the United Arab Emirates with exceptional groundwork and education of the community, actively involved in beach and ocean clean-ups and mangrove tree planting as a part of the organization’s fight for cleaner oceans.
“I wanted to be part of an organisation with credible commitments that bring about real change.”
Amanda launched a capsule collection in November 2020 with sustainable homegrown brand, BY M.A.R.Y.. with the idea of giving back to the oceans via Azraq with every purchase.
In October 2021, Amanda was a speaker at the U.A.E.’s very first TEDxAlquoz event, a globally-minded local community of passionate individuals interested in sharing their perspectives about a variety of topics aimed at change our perspectives on the world, and in her case; sustainability and sustainable fashion.
Watch here: ‘Fast-fashion is set to produce 25% of total CO2 emissions by 2050… but here’s what you can do about it’.
In 2024, Amanda collaborated with locally based luxury jewellery brand Etika to design and produce a limited collection of pieces featuring lab grown gemstones and diamonds in order to help bring awareness to impact of diamond mining and choosing our luxury accessories more sustainably.