How I Got Here: Former Competitive Swimmer Samara El Khadri Dives Into Fine Jewelry

By Karen Dybis | January 22, 2025

Samara El Khadri (pictured) had her life planned since she was 7 and started swimming competitively: She would train for the Olympics and win a medal in her favorite sport.

Then the unexpected—two shoulder injuries—happened. Her swimming career over, El Khadri felt unmoored and wondered where to channel her competitiveness.

She found it in something familiar. El Khadri’s family worked in the jewelry industry, and her father encouraged her to embrace that legacy. So, in 2021, she established the fine jewelry brand Kaimanna by Samara.

“Kaimanna is a Hawaiian name—Kai, meaning ocean or water-related, and mana, meaning power,” says El Khadri. “The relation to water, or ocean, to me comes from my passion and past career in swimming, and the relation to power comes from the power of the ocean and water. Combine both words together and that means diamond.”

Samara bracelet — *This white gold bracelet from Kaimanna by Samara’s Infinite collection has 138 black diamonds and 214 white diamonds ($20,350).*

Based in Marbella, Spain, El Khadri didn’t start her jewelry line out of boredom or even to earn a living from it—instead, she says, Kaimanna by Samara was something she could pour her passion and drive into, as she’d done with swimming.

“After the injuries and ending my swimming career, the drive to succeed has never left my heart, which is why I am putting everything I would have given to swimming into Kaimanna by Samara,” she says. “This brand is created with love, power, soul, passion, and ambition. I want everyone wearing Kaimanna to feel confident and powerful.” That, she says, was how she felt when she was in the water.

El Khadri was born in Spain to Dutch and Moroccan parents. Her family moved from Spain to Rabat, Morocco, when she was a child. They also traveled frequently. “My earliest memory of jewelry was when I was a little girl, going to the workshop in Antwerp with my family,” she says.

Samara earrings — *These earrings were a custom order that Kaimanna by Samara created with diamonds in graduated sizes, from 1.5 to 6 cts.*

“My father was always on the selling floor, and I used to sneak up to the top floor to see where all the jewelry was being set—this was my favorite part to watch.”

El Khadri went to Rabat American School, then left Morocco to attend high school in the U.K., at Bournemouth Collegiate School. She completed her junior and senior years online so she could concentrate on swimming.

After graduating high school, El Khadri took a gap year to prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Games. But the shoulder injuries forced her to rethink her life path. At her father’s urging, she studied gemology, earning a certificate from GIA.

Samara necklace — *Samara El Khadri compares the rose gold beads on this 98-diamond necklace ($9,635) to droplets of water.*

“Since I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the business of gemology, I decided to get a master’s degree in business management and marketing in luxury tourism from Les Roches Marbella,” says El Khadri. “This helped me develop my business management skills.”

Her formal education has boosted her professionally, but the informal education El Khadri got in the pool is what makes her tick, as a person and a jeweler.

“Swimming has always been my real job. It taught me everything, and it helped shape who I am now,” she says. “It helped me start strong in the diamond industry. Swimming required me to be incredibly disciplined and responsible, which has served me in my jewelry career.”

(Photos courtesy of Kaimanna by Samara)