Friday, October 11 was the International Day of the Girl. To celebrate, the Duchess of Sussex announced a new partnership between Archewell, Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures. The three charities/foundations are partnering to support Girls Inc and #HalfTheStory to “provide digital wellness programming for young girls in underserved communities across America through a program called Social Media U.” This is right up Meghan’s alley, and it would not surprise me at all if she was the one who put this whole partnership together.
To celebrate the new program, Meghan recently visited Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara “to engage with young girls about their experiences growing up in the digital age,” per sussex.com. Meghan met with girls in the program and talked with them one-on-one and in smaller groups. There are photos on sussex.com too (I’m including an IG with the pics). Meghan wore a J.Crew shirt, Ralph Lauren belt, Manolos and her Cartier watch.
During the session Meghan did in Santa Barbara, she spoke to the girls about what has happened to her since becoming a global celebrity. According to Larissa May, co-founder of #HalfTheStory, “We did an activity where we talked through a bunch of scenarios, and Meghan talked about being one of the most bullied people in the world. We had girls wave these little emoji signs and talk about how each one of these scenarios would have impacted them emotionally. We really wanted to make sure that the teens at #HalfTheStory were able to give their input on the type of experience that we would create. Ultimately, we thought the best way to do that was to create a space of vulnerability.” As you can imagine, this has people screaming and bullying Meghan, because she spoke about her own experience to little girls, in the hopes that her vulnerability would encourage the girls to speak about what negatively affects them.
Meghan and Archewell have been partnered with Girls Inc since 2021, although that partnership is rarely cited in the British media’s articles about how Harry and Meghan don’t have anything to do and no one important will work with them. Look at that – Archewell partnering with Melinda Gates and Oprah to empower little girls. Who would have thought.
Meghan Markle joined Larissa May, founder of #HalfTheStory, & @Girls_Inc CEO, Stephanie J. Hull, for a visit to @GirlsIncSB where they met with students and shared their own experiences online.
https://t.co/fyGJBjsGsO pic.twitter.com/xRJ8PZGyYV
— R.S. Locke / Royal Suitor (@royal_suitor) October 11, 2024
Photos courtesy of Instar, Archewell/fan IG account.