The people.
A collective of innovative designers, healers, architects, artists, gardeners, co-creators & whole systems thinkers.
The founders.
Lisa Jackson.
I was raised in Toronto, one of the most multicultural cities on the planet, which gave me a unique perspective on being a citizen of the world and an excellent education in many creative outlets. I was fortunate to be exposed to the world of arts, studying colour theory, drawing, cosmetology, wood working, film photography, video and audio production, graphic design & fashion; all before finishing high school. Following the footsteps of the greatest entrepreneurs, I dropped out of college in the first semester, working 9 years as a commercial & editorial makeup artist in Toronto’s flourishing entertainment industry.
I took the leap and moved to New York City at 27 years old to begin production on my ethically focused, made in the Garment District swimwear brand. Here, I gained early success on Instagram with a product coined Hotcakes. I was opened to a Universe of possibility when I found myself surrounded by artists, musicians & hippies that were challenging the status quo in meaningful ways. In New York, life for an artist is hard so you have to come up with creative ways to enjoy it. Through the struggles I faced in my new life as an immigrant entrepreneur, I began to imagine a world where everything moved in harmony. Where all these inspiring, talented people, that were enriching my life so deeply, didn’t have to put forth such unnatural effort for the very basics of life; when really, they were put here to expand human connection through their art.
I arrived in Tulum two years later searching for something closer to the vision that had begun to reveal itself. My lifestyle elevated and I became more aligned, simply by living amongst nature for the first time. I had fallen into this beautiful rabbit hole, with an expansive sense of freedom and possibility growing in me. I was experiencing spiritual ceremonies, being exposed to Maya culture and meeting a self-replenishing stream of like-minded humans from all over the world, daring to break all the rules. I settled in to create a home and opened my first boutique on the beach road. For the first time, I had the means to create on my own terms, in an absolutely inspiring environment and I gave myself permission to indulge in it all.
For a long time, I was handling everything for the brand from design to photography, customer service, marketing & accounting and on the verge of burnout. I had the opportunity to collaborate with Walter on a few creative projects and saw the potential of our combined work, so I decided to invite him to join AMARA. It wasn’t until we began working together that things really started to flow. We immediately saw the alignment in our talents, ambitions, vision and work ethic and began taking steps towards building what has become a much grander and more holistic picture of our mission.
Walter Frías
I was born in 1980 and grew up on the border between Texas and Chihuahua, in Ciudad Juarez. Being raised in an industrial city with no internet at the time, my influences in that small, fast growing town were directing me towards developing a commercial career. After finding that studies in international business were very superficial to my soul, I decided to study something that I could really enjoy. I ended up enrolling into massage therapist studies in Barcelona and surprisingly, finding Chinese medicine, ayurveda and traditional medicine were truly a passion. I continued that path, studying and working in holistic medicine for several years. I then moved to Tulum and began working as a massage therapist in the local spas. But after two years I was feeling limited in my offerings. I wasn’t finding any complete holistic center where I could utilize more healing tools. I decided to move on to work with nutrition, something I was equally passionate about, working with a team this time and doing it in our own style. With a friend, we started a small health food restaurant with very affordable prices for all the community to benefit. But in the 3 years of the project, we discovered that offering such low prices only made the people who care for their health not trust the quality of the food. And we found the locals, who we were aiming to help eat healthier, were very attached to their unhealthy habits. My partner and I became exhausted of the extreme demands of the business and only earning enough to cover basic needs without the project really growing, so we decided to give it a break.
After that experience, I found myself questioning what I could work on that would engage my passions and provide a satisfying lifestyle. With no answers in sight, I decided to travel, trusting the Universe would provide the answers along the way. And it did. I was introduced to Lisa’s swimwear project after collaborating on the renewal of a holistic center. Even though I already knew her for 3 years and knew that she had this brand, I had no idea the bikinis were made with recycled nylon recovered from the ocean and that the brand was very committed to preserving nature’s beauty. For the first time in my life, fashion made sense. It wasn’t about destroying the beautiful nature to make clothes anymore. Now, I saw it was about getting inspired by the beauty of nature and infusing that inspiration into making beautiful, sexy, stylish, high end products. After seeing our visions collide she invited me to work with her and with the excitement of a new discovery, it was clear to me that I was going to be involved.
I have been working with Lisa for 4 year nows and found a very exciting industry with a lot of learning, a lot of travel, a lot of meeting inspiring people, and what is key for me, no routine at all. So much to do that it’s always something new. And in this time working together, I feel we have grown so much personally as well as expanding and merging our visions and talents to create so much more than a swimwear brand. I find myself now working on a project where all of my passions meet. The admiration for natural beauty, the joy of a meaningful lifestyle, the adventure of discovering new places, the delight of my favorite outdoor activities and very soon the development of my medicine skills & healing gifts, solely for the pleasure of it all.