AKILAH'S JEWELRY is a woman owned St. Ann's based enterprise manufacturing and selling hand-crafted jewelry made from the jewels put forth by mother earth. Earrings, chains, chokers, handbands, bracelets and anklets are all crafted using natural beads and seeds. AKILAH'S JEWELRY has earned a reputation throughout Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean for its natural and unique designs nd creative use of natural materials. Each piece of jwelry is unique and original, and can also be custom-designed to adjust for the special wishes of the client.

All of the materials used in AKILAH'S JEWELRY are either recycled or gathered in a environmentally-friendly method direct from nature. Some of the beads and seeds used are collected on walks and hikes in and around the hills of St. Ann's as well as in the Northern Range. Some of the materilas are imported from other Caribbean and Latin American suppliers. Much of the material used in AKILAH'S JEWELRY, however comes from the agroforestry project that she manages in the St. Ann's watershed. She has incorporated into the project the planting of various trees and seeds in order to provide for a steady flow of materials and to contributeto the sustainability of her product and her business.

Natural materials used in AKILAH'S JEWELRY include: flamboyant seed, donkey's eye, jumbee bead, shack shack seed, juju seed(wild indian or job's tears),cassia seed,royal palm seed, bamboo, large palm seed, small palm seed, lucky seed, coconut shell, cocorite seed, sea shells, soap seed, ironwood seed, sea shells , wood and gru gru beff seed (banga seed in the common term).

The short term goal of AKILAH'S JEWELRY is to market an indigenious line of high fashion jewelry throughout the Caribbean. She would also like to see the growth and development of a seed exchange programwithin the region. such a programme would help to highlight the potential for viable economic activity based on the sustainableuse of the natural resources of the forest and the savannah. with this in mind, AKILAH'S JEWELRY has begun creating opportunities for young people to learn the skills required for producing "ecological" jewelry. The most important of these skills is a love, appreciation and respect for the natural environment- the source for our jewels and necessary base for all creation.

About Akilah:
Akilah ( which means one who reasons intelligently) was born in Fyzabad in South Trinidad in 1966 and spent her formative years in Moruga. She lived in Tobago for a brief period during the early 1980s but returnrd to Trinidad in 1982 at which time she and her late husband established themselves in St. Ann's. They initiated an agroforestry project whose principal goal is to reforest the hillsides of the community in order to protect select areas of the St. Ann's watershed from the ravages of bush fires. In addition to the protection it provides for the land and the peopleliving on the land, the project produces food items for use and for sale and today serves as a principal source of material for AKILAH'S JEWELRY. Akilah is at present the Project Manager and is supported in her efforts by the Tropical Re-Leaf Foundation.