Anna-Mieke Anderson, Founder/CEO of MiaDonna & Company and The Greener Diamond.

Originally from the South Pacific, Anderson was born in New Zealand and raised in Sydney, Australia. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon USA with her husband and two children.

Anderson has been involved in the fashion world her entire life. As a kid she grew up “back stage” with a mother that modeled and a television and film art director for a father. Her teen years were spent on stage and as an adult she returned backstage as a high fashion makeup artist. Her work as a make-up artist included various projects; The Matrix, Babe, The Muse, The Jay Leno Show, Australian Fashion Week, San Francisco Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Yves St Laurent and many more.

After discovering the origin of her earth-mined diamond ring, Anderson was so haunted by what she learned about the trade of illicit diamonds that she took off her own diamond wedding ring and didn’t look back. She started by sponsoring a child in Liberia and then set out to find a diamond alternative she could live with. It wasn’t long before Anderson discovered that she wasn’t the only one in search of an ethical, environmentally friendly, beautiful and affordable diamond alternative – MiaDonna & Company was born. The name MiaDonna came from her daughter's name Mia and her mother's name Donna. Together they can be translated “My beautiful lady,” which Anderson feels is a fitting description of the products she offers.

She not only considers MiaDonna & Co. to be an outlet for her creative side and a way for her to use her experience from the fashion world, but she finds greater fulfillment in knowing that sales from MiaDonna & Co. help fund restoration work in Africa. Having started with just one child, Anderson now has her sights set on supporting an entire African village that was torn apart by conflict funded by the trade of illicit diamonds.