Duchess Meghan Launches Initiative to Help Women for Her 40th Birthday

Duchess Meghan is making her 40th birthday one to remember. To coincide with the special milestone, the Duchess of Sussex has launched a new charitable initiative to support women around the world.

As part of the Archewell Foundation’s ongoing call for Compassion in Action, the new 40×40 initiative encourages people to contribute 40 minutes of mentorship or community service to help women affected by the pandemic reenter the workforce.

Meghan’s decision to focus on this growing problem comes after millions of women around the world have been forced to leave work during the pandemic, including 2 million in the U.S., through job loss or having to focus on schooling children and care for family members.

And she isn’t doing it alone. The duchess has asked 40 activists, athletes, artists, and world leaders to participate, including Adele, Amanda Gorman, Amanda Nguyen, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Gloria Steinem, José Andrés, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and Stella McCartney.

With the help of actress Melissa McCarthy, Meghan announced the project on the Archewell website during a special skit (featuring a cameo from a juggling Prince Harry!). “We should get matching tattoos,” McCarthy suggested to mark her big day, holding up a “besties forever” design. “Y’know, maybe we should save it for when I turn 50,” Meghan laughed.

In an open letter about the idea of giving 40-minutes of service, Meghan wrote, “In reflecting on my 40th birthday and the many things I am grateful for, I’m struck that TIME IS AMONG OUR GREATEST AND MOST ESSENTIAL GIFTS: Time with our loved ones, time doing the things we love, time spent learning, laughing, growing, and the sacred time we have on this earth. Amongst the most valuable gifts of time is also time spent in service to others knowing that it can contribute to incredible change. To that last point, and with my 40th lap around the sun in mind, it made me wonder: what would happen if we all committed 40 minutes to helping someone else or to mentoring someone in need? And then what would happen if we asked our friends to do the same?”

She continued, “I believe mentorship is one way to help women regain confidence and rebuild their economic strength, and for my birthday, I have asked 40 friends, activists, athletes, artists, and world leaders to help kickoff a global effort by contributing 40 MINUTES OF MENTORSHIP to support women re-entering the workforce. With this time, I hope they each help someone advance a professional life on her own terms, and, I hope that they inspire countless others to give 40 minutes of their time as well.”

One of Meghan’s first patronages, the British-based charity Smart Works, has joined three other organizations to partner with the #40×40 initiative. “The Duchess of Sussex has personally dedicated many hours to supporting and mentoring Smart Works’ clients ahead of their job interviews,” the charity, which coaches unemployed women ahead of job interviews, tweeted. “We look forward to playing a small part in bringing this initiative to life for the women we exist to help.” The YWCA, a charity dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting justice, and volunteer action center LA Works have also joined as partners.

Supporters of the duchess have also found other impactful ways to celebrate Meghan’s birthday. Sussex Squad members launched the #Meghans40celebration hashtag to raise money for the Myna Mahila foundation in India, which has spent the past six years working to break taboos surrounding menstrual hygiene in a country where more than 140 million women are using unsanitary menstrual solutions. Over the past month, the grassroots initiative has raised upward of $47,000 to help 850 girls go back into full-time education by providing yearlong supplies of sanitary products.

Despite numerous tabloid reports of lavish birthday parties and five-start party planners, sources close to the duchess tell BAZAAR that Meghan will be celebrating her 40th “privately” at home with family.

Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com

Who Is Meghan?

The Duchess of Sussex, born Meghan Markle, married Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor in May 2018. The couple’s official residence is Kensington Palace. As well as undertaking royal duties in support of The Queen, both in the UK and overseas, The Duchess devotes her time to supporting a number of charities and organisations. From a young age, The Duchess had a keen awareness of social issues and actively participated in charitable work. Aged 11 she successfully campaigned for a company to alter their television advert that had used sexist language to sell washing-up liquid. Her Royal Highness also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles from the age of 13-17. She continued to volunteer at the soup kitchen when she would return home to Los Angeles until the age of 22….Continue Reading…

Charities & Patronages

The Royal Foundation
Since: May 2018 – June 2019
The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry is the Patrons’ primary charitable vehicle, and hopes to become a leading philanthropic investor, effectively using its time and resources to create lasting change in targeted areas and geographies, based on need and on the interests of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. The Foundation will seek to invest in, or partner with, organisations with proven impact, using its profile and leverage to create a multiplier effect in resources, outcomes and knowledge.
Links: Official Site | Meghan’s Efforts
National Theatre
Since: January 2019
The National Theatre’s mission is to make world-class theatre that is entertaining, challenging and inspiring. And to make it for everyone. They aim to reach the widest possible audience, to be inclusive and diverse, and as national as possible. With a broad range of productions in London and across the UK. The National puts some of the nation’s leading artists on the world stage, with productions playing on Broadway and touring across the globe.
Links: Official Site | Meghan’s Efforts
The Association of Commonwealth Universities
Since: January 2019
The Association of Commonwealth Universities is the world’s first international university network, and is the only accredited organisation representing higher education across the Commonwealth. The ACU manages international scholarship schemes (including the UK government’s three major scholarship programmes and The Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships), convene universities to address key policy challenges such as gender and equity, climate resilience, and peace and reconciliation, and promote the role of universities in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Links: Official Site | Meghan’s Efforts
Smart Works
Since: January 2019
Smart Works is a UK charity that provides high quality interview clothes and interview training to unemployed women in need. Women are referred to Smart Works from organisations such as job centres, work programmes, prisons, care homes, homeless shelters and mental health charities.
Links: Official Site | Meghan’s Efforts
Mayhew
Since: January 2019
Funded entirely by public donations Mayhew aims to promote animal welfare by delivering a broad range of community-based veterinary, care and education services in the UK and overseas. By recognizing that animal welfare issues and social welfare issues are linked Mayhew works to protect the bond vulnerable people, the elderly, the homeless and those suffering from mental health issues have with their animals. And by taking their educational initiatives out to the community they have a better chance of helping prevent cases of neglect, abandonment and cruelty.
Links: Official Site | Meghan’s Efforts
The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust
Since: March 2019
The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust exists to champion, fund and connect young leaders around the world who are driving positive social change, serving their communities and providing hope, work and self-employment opportunities for others. As Vice-President of the Trust Meghan will highlight the Trust’s partnerships with young people across the Commonwealth, and in particular its work supporting women and girls.
Links: Official Site | Meghan’s Efforts

Projects

‘Together: Our Community Kitchen’ Cookbook
After working with the women of Hubb Community Kitchen The Duchess of Sussex suggested the idea of a charity cookbook that celebrates the power of cooking to bring people together. Supported by The Royal Foundation and published by Penguin Random House companies, ‘Together: Our Community Kitchen’ showcases over 50 recipes from women whose community was affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. Since the Together cookbook has been published, it has sold 130,000 copies worldwide. The resulting funds means the kitchen has been completely refurbished and is now open seven days a week

Smart Works Charity Capsule Collection
After working quietly with Smart Works for over a year The Duchess became aware of the difficulty of matching up the perfect work attire due to a range of mismatched colors and sizing. It was revealed in July 2019 that Marks & Spencer, John Lewis & Partners, Jigsaw, and designer Misha Nonoo would team up together to design a capsule collection of work wear clothing for the underprivileged women trying to secure employment. They will follow the “one-for-one model” model where an item from the collection purchased is an item donated to the Smart Works Charity.

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