Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, encouraged women to find inspiration to fight for equity as she accepted the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Award Tuesday night, with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown.
“It’s never too late to start,” Meghan said at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. “You can be the visionary of your own life… There is still so much work to be done.”
Her acceptance speech closed out the Ms. Foundation for Women’s annual gala, part of the nation’s oldest women’s foundation celebration of its 50th anniversary. The gala also kicked off the foundation’s largest fundraising campaign ever – $100 million over the next 12 months – that will be used to further the organization’s equity-centered initiatives and its mission of advancing women’s collective power.
The foundation is already more than halfway to its goal. It announced that the late photographer and philanthropist Lucia Woods Lindley donated $50 million, the largest bequest in the foundation’s history. Proceeds from the gala itself raised another $1 million, and nearly $500,000 was donated by attendees during dinner.With her mother, Doria Ragland, in the audience, Meghan recounted how Ms. Magazine was always in their house and how it affected her world view.
“I am a woman who remains inspired and driven by this organization,” she said, looking over at Ms. Foundation co-founder Gloria Steinem, who introduced her alongside current foundation CEO Teresa C. Younger. “It allowed me to recognize that part of my greater value and purpose in life was to advocate for those who felt unheard, to stand up to injustice, and to not be afraid of saying what is true and what is just and what is right.”
Though the event was her first public appearance since she skipped the coronation of her father-in-law.
