A thousand facets sits with Cristina Villegas from Moyo Gems and we talk about the importance of artisanal miner or small-scale miner (ASM). How she help created an environment of education and empowerment of women miners in Kenya and Tanzania to thrive and the importance of educating oneself in the gemstones and gold we use for our jewelry.

This is a truly important conversation.

About

Cristina Maria Villegas is the Director of Sustainable Jewelry & Strategic Initiatives at Pact, a global nonprofit organization at work in 40 countries worldwide. She is a leading expert on responsible mineral sourcing and on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). With deep experience across Africa, Asia and Latin America, she is best known for her specialty in colored gemstones, diamonds, and gold. Cristina is the co-founder of Moyo Gems, a direct sourcing initiative focused on the women gemstone miners and entrepreneurs of East Africa. She is a member of the Gemstone Knowledge Hub, is on the Board of Directors of Ethical Metalsmiths, is an ASM advisor to the Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030, and is a technical advisor to the Conservation X Prize’s Amazon Grand Challenge. She’s been quoted in Vogue, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Reuters, Wired, JCK, among others. She lectures for Columbia University’s Executive Course on Extractives and for Columbia University’s Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), where she leads the coursework on ASM. In 2021, she won the top prize in jewelry reform: The IAC Award for Leadership in Responsible Practice in Jewelry.

You can follow Cristina on Instagram @cristina.rocks and @moyogems, visit her website

www.moyogems.com , www.natureswealth.org

Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.

Music by @chris_keys__

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