Amy Aves Challenger

22/05/2026

16/05/2026

Super excited to find the big image, via acrylics, maps, music, poetry, dictionary pages, and old news images in this canvas custom built by my thoughtful husband. This will feature an aged version of Emmy Hennings after all several smaller studies, one linked here..
.

10/05/2026

No kids today, but glad for my pastels, my husband, my dog, and my kids who are so independent that they are off living life 🩷 Though it’s sad it’s also wonderful, and I guess that’s what love and art is about!.

17/09/2024

We are a family of immigrants. Here's my essay for Business Insider today. No country is perfect, but I'm grateful for what life in Switzerland continues to offer us.

My family of five plus our four pets moved all over the US. We decided to move to Switzerland in search of the lifestyle we wanted.

01/08/2024

This was a very tough one to write. I hope my honesty frees somebody. Thanks to my editor Julie at Next Avenue for publishing it and making it today’s Editor’s Pick ❤️

Fat wasn't our enemy. Our self-loathing and quest for love via perfection was. I wish my parents had understood this.

16/11/2023

In my writing workshop we celebrated Thanksgiving early w Jewish American heritage + Chinese, Argentinian, African and Swiss. This workshop is on year three of writing together!

29/10/2023

Getting out my paintings, after an artist friend inspired me, to hopefully show next year. Here’s an old one from when my daughter Amelia was little… She doesn’t dance anymore, so I’m especially glad for this one.

30/07/2022

Trigger warning-- su***de.

I am late sharing this recently published piece that unfortunately is behind a paywall, but at least the intro can be read here. Eventually, I hope to share other stories around our difficult relationship with teen depression, self-harm, su***de, and social media so that more parents will benefit from our devastating year. The best news related to this piece is this: thanks to the help of Jillian, my editor at The Information, TikTok finally took down the account of the victim (I call "Nina" here) after I shared my edited piece with Jillian's press contacts at TikTok. Keep in mind that for six months before my piece ran, TikTok ignored Nina's mother's request (including proof of her cremation certificate that TikTok asked for and then ignored.) They also denied my husband and my request to remove Nina's TikTok account. That account included imagery in a psychiatric hospital just before Nina's su***de. That imagery traumatized countless other teens who were also at risk for su***de. https://www.theinformation.com/articles/a-girl-killed-herself-it-took-tiktok-six-months-to-remove-her-account?fbclid=IwAR3RvwvZtecLhGcmDHaZs4qoANiJQ7CPckWe7Vx8pnPSQvPG-wMqIOukGlE

Nina is the name I’ll use for the girl who loved my 16-year-old son. Until recently, when he wanted to think about her, he could still find her videos on TikTok, including the ones she posted under a false name while she was a patient in a psychiatric hospital. He could see her smeared makeup ...

28/05/2022

Thank you a million to Amy Hall New Internationalist
who worked with me, carefully editing this story about my strong and incredible friend, writer, and fellow mom Gloria Kakhidze’s efforts to save her son. Gloria is the quiet type who doesn’t ask for attention and rarely says an unkind word about anyone. I am grateful she let me write this.

Though the Swiss authorities are pushing for Gloria’s family to leave, endangering Danieli’s life (most recently causing him panic attacks,) the Swiss, Ukrainian, and International Community I know share my outrage over the idea that this family would be deported.

Originally from Georgia, Danieli is trying to access life-saving surgery – but his family could be forced to leave before he is able to get it. An outrageous situation, says Amy Aves Challenger.

22/03/2022

Here my piece in The Progress Network covering more of my experience among my amazing community (and other Europeans) as we rally around Ukrainian refugees. I hope this illuminates the need for long-term goals to support all displaced people.

What would be even better is if we treated all refugees this way, says a longtime refugee worker in Switzerland.