Amanda Horn
on Dancing with Water
“Water is the quintessence of freedom.” Amanda’s life revolves around the symbiosis between humans and water in service of art.
Dancing underwater, she confronts duality to find balance: surrender/control, grit/grace, movement/stillness, light/dark, bitter/sweet, belonging/longing.
“I compete with no one but myself. The ocean teaches us to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. A quiet and peaceful place, and still one that so many fear. When I am afraid, I pause and seek to understand. Underwater, I feel calm, connected and clear. It’s just me, the power of my breath, and my #bluemind.”
Starting as a child who avoided swimming, Amanda Horn became an adult who cherishes the cocktail of feelings water brings: freedom, weightlessness, nakedness, and connection that inspire her to let go of the need to be perfect. The best things in her life happened when she leapt into the unknown.
One day, she felt disconnected from her work as a marketing professional in the wine marketing industry, so she asked herself: “How could I carve my place in the sustainability conversation in a way that feels authentic to me and impactful to the world?" Inspiration was lacking, so Amanda decided to travel to find her purpose. In Indonesia, she became a professional scuba diver certified to guide other divers, marine biologists and conservationists, but she still wanted to find the best way to connect marketing and diving with a purpose.
Water became an obsession. Amanda was anything but a scientist, but her curiosity turned her career journey into something non-linear and fluid. “Movement” is her keyword, so the moment she met Bastien Soleil and a speech she gave on the need for creativity and science to come together to tell better have been the perfect mix. In the “The First Breath” video they co-created, Amanda’s dream to free dive, dance and explore movement underwater became a reality.
She is now an ocean leader, brand marketing strategist, and entrepreneur with a love for the depths of the human-water connection. Amanda Horn is also an advisory board member for ECOP Canada, a brand storytelling and science communication mentor with the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, and a consultant for the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition.
Loless Blue Beauty, the company she founded, is reimagining and redesigning our personal care and beauty routines to use less water, less plastic, and less waste. It also promotes ocean literacy through the Bodies of Water podcast. Amanda’s dream is to facilitate 1M new ocean connections in the form of conversation, mentorship, ideation, and storytelling by the end of the UN Ocean Decade for Ocean Science and Sustainability.
Read Amanda Horn’s answers for Inspirators and remember that water is medicine for the soul!
Thank you, Amanda, for being a Body of Water!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Amanda Horn
Company / Institution: Loless Blue Beauty, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition
Title: Ocean Leader, Founder, Visionary, SSI Divemaster, Brand & Business Development Consultant
Website: bio.site/heymanda
LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/amandahorn
Country of origin: Canada
Country you currently live in: Canada
Your definition of Regeneration: Understanding that everything is connected to everything else. Nature knows best, so we should look to it to inspire the best solutions for the greatest positive impact and scale. It’s about reinventing something old, and not taking more than we give back in return.
Main business challenge you face: Packaging development.
Main driver that keeps you going: Connection.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: Introspection and Vision.
The trait you most value in others: Integrity.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Dancing and moving my body above or under water. Driving my niece to school (she inspired the name of my company, Loless). Skating and ice dancing on a perfectly frozen lake to classical music. Sipping on an old fashioned at a table for one, while doodling or journaling. Geeking out over wine and food pairings with my “taste buds” (aka. Foodie friends). Being by, on, in or underwater.
The Inspirators who determined you to take the regenerative path:
James Nestor
Easkey Britton
Wallace J. Nichols
A starting point for companies or professionals that are beginning the regeneration journey: Be so clear on your purpose and let that be the guide in choosing your advocacy and your business model. You cannot be everything to everyone or every cause. Choose one thing and look at it from all angles to understand your relationship to it and then, take action.
Most used and abused clichés in sustainability that bother you:
It may be as simple as the overuse of the word “sustainability” in general. For a while, many brands and companies have been positioning sustainability as if it is a competitive advantage when it needs to be the standard. Other than that, the use of greenwashing terms like "clean" and "eco-friendly" which have no definition.
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope:
Connection inspires action. Find something that you care about, something that you can pour yourself into, and then lead with love and connection in all that you do.
Decide what you want to contribute to the world. Design who you need to become to make it happen and then move through the world as they would. Surround yourself with people who will champion your pursuit of that purpose and let go of anything that does not align. The best advice I was given was to find a mentor and be someone else’s mentor and for that, I am grateful for those relationships.
Books that had a great impact on you
Deep by James Nestor
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
The Art of Impossible by Steven Kotler
Blue Mind by Wallace J Nichols
Ebb & Flow; Connecting with the Power and Patterns of Water by Easkey Britton
Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Movies / Documentaries you would watch all over again:
Molly’s Game
Blackfish
Midnight in Paris
The Making of Frozen 2 – I can’t help it. The calculated chaos of a full-length animated film is an incredible example of creative collaboration.
Websites / Podcasts you visit frequently:
Diary of a CEO Podcast
Masters of Scale Podcast
Seaze The Podcast
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing:
I will sing in the shower or the car to anything ranging from jazzy, bluesy voices like Melody Gardot, Macy Gray, Nat and Natalie Cole, to Broadway musicals like Chicago or Fosse, where I live out my dreams of being a professional dancer, commercial backup dancer or Disney Princess.
Something I’ve learned is that it’s ok to own all of the intersections of your identity and embrace non-linear thinking and passions. If anyone wants to start the next best girl-pop group, I’m ready.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: Nusa Penida, Bali, Skeleton Lake Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.
Global Regenerative Voices you recommend us to follow:
Gemma Butler
Jeannie Jarnot
Paul Foulkes-Arellano
Julia Marsh
Trends in Regeneration we should keep an eye on:
Water wellness, water-responsibility, and the design of circular and regenerative systems. We are into the (sea)weeds, literally, and love their potential for our pillars: less water, less plastic, and less waste.
Best places for networking (online or offline): Pick My Brain – Network intentionally with people who are selling their time and gifting knowledge
Impactful and relevant Sustainable Development or Regeneration courses or certifications: Swimming Lessons; Freediving & Scuba Diving.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future in 2030:
Though human activity is the cause of so much destruction, we are also the only mammals capable of developing the solutions to rebuild it. We have the capacity to be inspired, recognize beauty in the world and each other, and take action.
Regenerative Leadership qualities much needed today:
Vision, Creativity, Design Thinking, Strategy, Collaboration, Production
The Inspirators you are endorsing for a future edition are:
Diz Glithero, National Lead The Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition
Caroline Duncan, PHD Candidate Civil Engineering & Water Safety
Maxine Cunningham, Founder of Pick My Brain
Christina Li, Canada’s First Water Sommelier
Lea D’Auriol, Founder of Oceanic Global
Nik Strong-Cvetich, Founder Save the Waves
The quote that inspires you:
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” (Martha Graham)
Your quote that will inspire us:
