Kynfolk | Amy Powney in Conversation with Josie Fernandez Marelli
Following the launch of our Conversation Starters collections, which celebrates the power of conversation in creating change, our founder and creative director Amy Powney sat down with fellow changemaker and conversation starter, Josie Fernandez Marelli – co-founder and CEO of Choose Love, for a powerful conversation rooted in action, solidarity, and real-world change.
Together, they reflect on a decade of Choose Love, discuss the urgent conversations we need to be having about migration, borders, and global responsibility, and share what continues to drive their commitment to change.
From now until Tuesday 2nd December, 10% of proceeds raised from sales of our Conversation Starters collection will be donated to Choose Love, supporting refugees and displaced communities around the world.
Watch the conversation in full below.
“Borders don't exist in nature. If you were to look at the DNA of any person in the UK, more than likely migration is going to be a part of their history. The concept that humans can be illegal is completely ridiculous.”
Q: You're celebrating 10 years of Choose Love this year, which is incredible. Can you take us back to the moment Choose Love began – at the time, did you imagine it would grow into a global movement, or did it feel like a temporary response to a crisis?
A: We were a group of friends who wanted to do something to help in the 2015 refugee crisis. We were initially just trying to raise £1,000 and gather tents and sleeping bags together. And it just grew and grew.
At that time, we were very much part of a movement of people who were seeing what was going on and felt that they needed to be the change that we wanted to see. We never intended to build an organisation, even for the first few years of the organisation, it was just constantly seeing more need and more injustice and doing whatever we could to try and fill those gaps in the response that we were seeing. I think it turned into the organisation it is today simply because there are so many incredible people who want to put their energy into building a better world. And we're so inspired by all the people who donate, be it £5, £10, who run a marathon to raise money, who put on bake sales, who do all sorts of different fundraisers. And most importantly, it's the people who run the organisations that we have the privilege to support.
Q: What does it mean to choose ‘love’?
A: I would say it is just a value system and a framework for how to live your life. I really think that in this world, if decisions were made not based on profit and loss, not based on greed, but they were always based on love, based on humanity, based on wanting for everyone else the same as you would want for yourself, we'd live in a very different world.
“As we move into the future, rather than thinking about building walls, we, as a society, need to be collectively thinking about a new world that could be possible, that chooses love and justice for everyone.”
Q: Looking back over the past 10 years, what moments or milestones stand out to you most?
A: It feels kind of a weird thing to reflect on the milestones when we have seen the number of displaced people in the world double over the last 10 years. And we don't really want to be looking backwards, we want to be looking forwards.
But, I think it's still incredible to walk down the street and see someone wearing a Choose Love T-shirt – that never gets old. And the fact that we have been able to support over 8 million people over the last 10 years – that feels really incredible.
Our Choose Love shop being such a part of Christmas time in London, with people coming year on year and buying items for refugees around the world during winter is an incredible thing.
It's a huge milestone that we're having a show at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate 10 years of the organisation. And there's a lot of organisations who we've been supporting for eight, nine, 10 years, and seeing their development as organisations and watching their leaders become some of the most critical leaders in the humanitarian response in the world is another really incredible thing.
Q: What are the most important conversations we need to be having about migration, borders, and global responsibility?
A: First of all, the conversations need to be had and we need to be having conversations with people who maybe don't see the world in the same way that we do. People need to understand that human migration has been part of the planet since humans have existed and it's a false narrative to think otherwise. Borders don't exist in nature. If you were to look at the DNA of any person in the UK, more than likely migration is going to be a part of their history. The concept that humans can be illegal is completely ridiculous.
So I think there just needs to be more understanding of that. There needs to be more understanding of colonialism. There needs to be more understanding of empire. And, as we move into the future, rather than thinking about building walls, we, as a society, need to be collectively thinking about a new world that could be possible, that chooses love and justice for everyone.
In terms of global responsibility, when we have those conversations about colonialism, about empire, about the privilege that we all have, I think it is then ever so clear that it is our responsibility as those with privilege to be stepping up in this time. And I also think that once everyone understands that we are all connected and we are all one, then everything is our collective responsibility.
“I think it is then ever so clear that it is our responsibility, as those with privilege, to be stepping up in this time.”
Q: When the world feels so dark and heavy, what gives you hope?
A: I would say that the leaders of the organisations that Choose Love works with give me hope. They're the reason that we get up in the morning. They are the very, very best of humanity, people who are, you know, doctors working in Gaza, people who are running search and rescue boats in the ocean, lawyers who are fighting for the rights of displaced people around the world. We prioritise organisations led by those with lived experience. And you know, they've been through this themselves, and then they still use all of that energy to help other people. Yeah, they really give me hope.
Q: Finally, what message would you want to send to those who feel powerless in the face of so much global suffering?
A: The message that I would want to send to those who feel powerless is that it is completely legitimate to feel overwhelmed in these times, and a lot of the problems in the world can feel insurmountable, but that doesn't mean that we can't have hope and it doesn't mean that we can't be active citizens and every drop is what makes the ocean and so we as individuals might not be able to fix everything but when we all do those little things all of them add up. And there are so many incredible examples of wins that are happening in the world and I think we need to focus on those and come together and remember that the people do have the power.
Josie wears our Love Oyster jumper with our Sol Straight Mid-Wash Blue Jeans and Lucy ‘HEART’ T-shirt with our Sol Black Jeans.
Find out more about our Conversation Starters collection.
AKYN Studio Ltd will pay 10% of sales of products in the Conversation Starters collection to Choose Love CIO (charity number 1177927) from Tuesday 4th November - Tuesday 2nd December 2025. Choose Love is a registered charity in England and Wales (no:1177927). Find out more about their work at chooselove.org.
