Early life
She grew up as a third-generation Jehovah's Witness in Vancouver, Canada with her parents and sister. She rarely had contact with non-Jehovah's Witnesses. She forwent a formal education and career, and instead went into the full-time volunteer preaching work immediately after graduating high school. When she was 22 years old she married a Jehovah's Witness elder, then she and her husband moved to China to become missionaries.Education
As a young adult, Scorah forwent a formal education after high school (see early life above). In 2010, she enrolled at theChinesePod and "Dear Amber"
Scorah is a fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese and has lived in both Taiwan and China, where she became immersed in Chinese culture. Between the years 2007 and 2009 she hosted a ChinesePod series called "Dear Amber" where she answered listeners' questions about China and discussed unique aspects of Chinese culture and customs which foreigners may not be aware of. ChinesePod describes Scorah as a "pioneer" for developing this new lesson style. Her podcast was a Top 10 podcast in 2008 on iTunes.Child care and parental leave advocacy
In 2015 Scorah's three-month-old son Karl Towndrow died unexpectedly on his first day of daycare in SoHo, New York. The daycare had been operating without a license and was shut down shortly after the incident. A staff member stated that she had noticed Karl kicking in his crib but she was told by a supervisor to ignore it because that's what babies do. He was found unresponsive with "blue lips" a short time later, and pronounced dead at the hospital. Scorah had not felt ready to go back to work and leave him at daycare, which made the incident particularly difficult to cope with. She walked into the daycare and witnessed a staff member administering CPR "incorrectly," despite their earlier assurances that the staff was properly trained to administer CPR. She later found out that he had been put to sleep on his side. Since the official cause of death was "undetermined," she does not know if it could have been prevented; however, she regrets that her son had to die alone without his mother. The incident drove her into activism.>Paid parental leave
Scorah authored a "viral" article for '' The New York Times'' Motherlode blog about the incident from her perspective. In it she explained why she thinks mandatory paid parental leave is necessary. She says, "Parental leave reduces infant death, gives us healthier, more well-adjusted adults and helps women stay in the workforce." First ladyHigh-control groups
Scorah began speaking out publicly about her life as a Jehovah's Witness in 2013 in her article ''Leaving the Witness: A Preacher Finds Freedom To Think In Totalitarian China'' published by ''The Believer'' magazine. In it she speaks about her restrictive childhood andWhistleblower Work
In 2020, Scorah co-founded Lioness. Later, Lioness became a media company in its own right, publishing fact-checked stories in the public interest. In September 2023, Amber expanded her whistleblower support network by launching the collectivList of works
Books
*Podcasts
*References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorah, Amber Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Canadian women writers Former Jehovah's Witnesses People disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses Canadian emigrants to the United States Writers from Vancouver Christian missionaries in Taiwan Christian missionaries in China Canadian expatriates in Taiwan Canadian expatriates in China CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies alumni Brooklyn College alumni Hunter College alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni