Amanda Southworth

AMANDA SOUTHWORTH is a seventeen-year-old iOS developer, designer, and a mental health and human rights activist. She’s founder and executive director of Astra Labs, a 501(c)3 non-profit that uses code for change, and serves over 100,000 users across the world. She created AnxietyHelper when she was thirteen, a mental health guidebook that provides tools based on CBT, resources, and information on various mental illnesses to make the world of mental illness more accessible. She also created Verena when she was fifteen, a personal security system for members of the LGBTQ+ community in abusive situations to protect them before, during, and after hate crimes, abuse, and bullying. In May 2018, Southworth launched Astra Labs to use technology to help marginalized communities by creating apps to help those affected deal with barriers, and empowering and partnering with organizations and companies to remove barriers completely. She worked with Teen Vogue in reporting from Apple’s 2017 WWDC conference, and was named Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 for the class of 2017, and Three Dot Dash’s Global Teen Leaders for 2018. She also partnered with Apple to create a Today At Apple Lab called “Developing An App Concept,” designed to bring app development to everyone in 2019. In addition to her development, she worked for March For Our Lives to host the National Die In in Los Angeles, with Target, to launch their online youth magazine, Target Tag, and has been featured in publications such as Oprah, USAToday, CNN, and Mashable. @amndasuthwrth