Sonja Nuttall

Nuttall was born in Liverpool, England.

She attended St. Martin's College and, in 1991, completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Fashion Design and Textiles. In 1993, she obtained a Master of Arts in Fashion Design with Distinction.

Nuttall had her first fashion show on the London catwalks in 1993 and was referred to as a "young Jil Sander." By 1996, she began selling her services as a consultant.

In 2004, Nuttall headed Jil Sander's in-house design team as Head Designer, after the departure of Jill Sander. Nuttall had a high-profile fashion career in the nineties, which included consulting and providing creative direction for companies like Marks & Spencer and Furla, in the fields of fashion and product design.

In 2010, she was responsible for the design and atmosphere at the inaugural TEDWomen conference in Washington D.C.

As early as 1998, Nuttall participated in such causes as Put Smoking out of Fashion. In 2006, Nuttall and Donna Karan co-founded the Urban Zen Foundation. The foundation works to "...introduce nontraditional healing methods into hospitals, set up boutiques...which promote...conscious living, and generally...to raise people’s awareness of the plights affecting people everywhere from Tibet to Israel." Nuttall also worked to add recycled watches (with wraps and belts) to the Urban Zen retail store.

Nuttall is also an active Buddhist and has studied under Myokyo-ni.