Jewelry designer Amy Brock of Imani Collections

So this is my friend and jewelry designer Amy Brock of Imani Collections who I had to coerce into letting me photograph her for this artist profile. Please feel free to comment on how great she looks in the picture. 

Amy has an awesome story of how she began Imani Collections. I am not the greatest of writers but I will do my best to tell the story of how Amy's design business came to be.

Amy began designing and making her jewelry as a means to fund a trip to Kenya Africa one year. Her attractive and creative designs caught on so well she was able to fund her trip on which she met and became close friends with a little girl in the villiage she was visiting named Mary. Mary attended a school for Aids orphans in Kenya. Mary's father had died of Aids and her mother was HIV positive. There were 8 children in Mary's family that would be left without providers. Realizing that the older children would have to somehow support the others Amy decided to teach one of Mary's sisters Naomi the craft that had provided the opportunity for Amy to come to Kenya. Naomi's natural affinity for jewelry design shown through in her creations. Amy saw Naomi's potential and knew that if the girls had the opportunity and finances to go to secondary school they would have the skills they needed to take care of their entire family. This is when Amy decided to begin Imani Collections in order to raise money to help further the girls education. Imani means "faith" in Kiswahili. Amy says "My hope is to bless the families of others as God has blessed me." Naomi has now begun attending a trade school to further her design career and Mary is attending Christ's Gift Academy.

You can meet Amy and see some of her and Naomi's work at our next show on December 13th from 4-9 p.m. at the studio located at 1050 East Montague Ave. in the old village of park circle.