About
MEET AMY
Amy Matthews is a remodeler, TV personality, and activist whose work threads together architecture, design, transformation, and education in a spirit of empowerment and renewal.
For close to two decades, Amy has inspired by example, with hands-on renovation projects that rejuvenate homes and workplaces. Her television shows on HGTV and DIY Network have included Renovation Raiders, Sweat Equity, Bathroom Renovations, Blog Cabin, Esquire Magazine’s Bachelor Pad of the Year, and This New House. Her current project, the build of a Scandinavian Modern Barnhouse in the St Croix River Valley, has been chosen by This Old House as their 2021 IDEA House.
The project will be highlighted in national media, and you can follow the build on IG and Facebook @DIYMatthews.
Amy’s work has been featured in such publications as the New York Times, the New York Daily News, People, Esquire, Country Living, Real Simple, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, US News and World Report, and Parents Magazine. She has also made numerous appearances on national networks including ABC and CNN, and programs such as the Today Show and CBS Morning News.
Her passion for empowerment has found expression in work with Habitat for Humanity and the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project, which has taken her to sites in New Orleans, Los Angeles, St. Paul, the St. Croix Valley, Guanacaste Costa Rica, and Chiang Mai, Thailand. She is an avid volunteer for Ronald McDonald House, including co-emceeing their LOVE Galas in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Most recently, Amy co-founded And Now She Rises, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women reclaim and transform their own narratives after experiencing domestic violence and abuse.
Amy’s public speaking across the country encompasses talks on construction and design, and how they contribute to spacious, inspired, and authentic living. She’s spoken to audiences at universities, the Epcot Center, Master Builders Association, Professional Women in Building, national Home and Garden Shows, and at fundraisers for service organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.
She’s also a mom, an enthusiast for rescue dogs, a trained opera singer, a violinist, and lover of sprint triathlons (especially when they help raise money for worthy causes).
AND NOW SHE RISES
With her co-Founder, Amy started this organization to help victims of domestic abuse rise from the ashes.
Only a victim can pull themselves out of an abusive situation, but moving forward from that point on requires community… from safety-plans for the hours immediately after escape to the support groups needed to rely on for years afterward; from legal help to housing logistics to learning how to engage in healthy relationships again. And most important of all: understanding.
A survivor needs our willingness to see reality and circle the wagons.
Together we can help turn a woman’s pain into power. And that kind of positivity also affects the whole world.