Amanda Butterworth is an impact strategist, keynote speaker, and startup coach with an unusual depth and breadth of experience: a decade in commercial and government procurement, a law degree, a startup she built, closed, and learned from, five+ years leading Fashion Revolution New Zealand as a volunteer, and senior roles spanning commercial procurement, social procurement, and impact consultancy.
The through-line across all of it is systems thinking — seeing across domains, connecting what others keep separate, and finding where the real opportunity for change actually lies.
A decade in commercial and government procurement — across central government, ACC, ANZ, and MPI — taught her how systems and incentives actually work: how decisions really get made inside organisations, and where the real leverage points are. A law degree taught her to question everything — how to analyse the detail and come up for air to see the bigger picture.
As Director of Social Procurement at The Ākina Foundation, she worked with government agencies, local government, and commercial organisations to embed social value into how they operate. At Brightly, a B Corp-certified technology company, she led impact reporting and marketing communications, and ran the B Local Auckland network — planning and hosting events for the B Corp business community in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Founding a startup, closing it, and learning from both taught her the gap between a good idea and a working business model. Leading Fashion Revolution New Zealand for five+ years — 40+ events, 10,000+ people annually, nationwide campaigns, and collaborations spanning grassroots community organisations to national institutions and major brands — taught her what it takes to build community and demand better.
She keynotes on circular economy, regenerative fashion, and the business case for systems change — most recently at New Zealand Design Week 2026. She completed the Startmate Founders Fellowship and coaches early-stage founders through Startup Aotearoa.
