Meghan Markle is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the release of her capsule clothing collection, which benefitted a charity near and dear to her heart.

Meghan, 39, launched the line last year with her patronage Smart Works, an organization that helps women find employment with coaching tips and professional attire for their job interviews. For every item bought during the limited sale of the collection, another was donated to the U.K. charity, resulting in thousands of donations.

Within the past year, Smart Works has helped over 3,000 clients and 1,000 women have taken pieces from the collection, according to a press release.

In honor of the anniversary of the launch, the Duchess of Sussex sat down for a Zoom call with three clients who had found success thanks to the charity.

“I’ve heard all of your stories and I mean my goodness so much success with all the new job hires you have and just amazing to see what’s happened, especially with what everyone in the world has gone through in the past couple months,” Meghan said.

Reflecting on the importance of the organization, Meghan went on to note that the charity offers so much more than just “the clothes themselves.”

“All of that stuff is the exterior but it’s what it does for you on the inside that ends up being the best accessory,” she explained. “It’s the confidence, it’s what is built within, that is the piece that you walk out of that room with and walk into the interview with that will take you to the next layer of success — and that’s what I love so much about the organization.”

Opening up last year about the inspiration behind the collection, Meghan shared that the pieces were designed based on her firsthand experience of what tended to be missing from donations made to the organization.

“When you walk into a Smart Works space you’re met with racks of clothing and an array of bags and shoes,” Meghan wrote in the September issue of British Vogue, which she guest edited. “Sometimes, however, it can be a potpourri of mismatched sizes and colors, not always the right stylistic choices or range of sizes.”

“To help with this, I asked Marks & Spencer, John Lewis & Partners, Jigsaw and my friends, the designer Mischa Nonoo, if they were willing to design a capsule collection of more classic options for a workwear wardrobe,” she added. “Taking the idea further, many of the brands agreed to use the one-for-one model: for each item purchased by a customer, one is donated to the charity. Not only does this allow us to be part of each other’s story, it reminds us we are in it together.”

Although no longer using her HRH title, Meghan continues to be a patron of the charity.

Where the site once included a section headed, “Our Royal Patron,” it now reads “The Duchess of Sussex.” Elsewhere, a page is now headlined, “Our Patron, The Duchess of Sussex,” whereas it previously read, “Our Royal Patron HRH The Duchess of Sussex.”

Since stepping away from royal life, Meghan and Prince Harry have since relocated to Santa Barbara, California, with their son Archie.

Source: https://people.com

Prince Harry and Meghan have been busy working from their new home, taking part in video calls and online meetings. But the couple has also been keen to get out and about where possible, and on Wednesday they volunteered with a local non-profit handing out items to families in need.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex volunteered with LA charity Baby2Baby, which is one of the four organizations—and the only one in the US—that they chose to help celebrate Archie’s birth last May. The couple handed out supplies to families and helped children pick out and try new backpacks.

A source said that, despite the heat “everyone was in great spirits. The kids were eager to receive their books and supplies and Meghan and Harry did what they do best—engage and connect with the crowd.”

The source continued that the couple was “determined to serve every last child waiting in a line that wrapped around the school” and they “chatted with the families about the upcoming school year and wished all of the kids good luck.”

Meghan dressed casually in a white shirt and beige shorts along with a mask from Royal Jelly, a New York City-based, Black female-founded company. The event was held at Knox Elementary School, which, along with the other schools in the LA Unified School District, has just started the new year remotely, with distance learning.

Baby2Baby provides basic necessities like diapers, wipes and clothes to kids and families in need and said today that it has distributed more than 30 million critical items to hundreds of thousands of children across the US since March.

“We are so grateful to be onsite during the most unique back to school week in history distributing school supplies, backpacks, hygiene, clothing and food directly to children and families who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and are struggling to afford the basic necessities they rely on school to provide,” Baby2Baby Co-Presidents Norah Weinstein and Kelly Sawyer Patricof said in a statement. “We are committed to supporting the students from our partners at LAUSD and around the country throughout distance learning as well as when they are back in the classroom.”

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said: “Thank you to Baby2Baby for your generosity and support. The faces of the students and families as they receive necessary supplies remind us all how important it is, during these most difficult of times, to create a sense of stability and even a few moments of happiness, in the lives of those we serve.”

Prince Harry and Meghan have settled into a new home in Santa Barbara with one-year-old Archie. The duchess made her first public appearance from the property last week during an online discussion with Emily Ramshaw, co-founder of news organization the 19th.

Source: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/

Since the Duchess of Sussex returned to the U.S. she has made a handful of appearances by video discussing issues close to her heart. And today, Meghan gave what are perhaps her most personal reflections so far on her experience of living through these troubled times and her hopes for using her voice.

The Duchess turned interviewer to speak to cofounder and CEO Emily Ramshaw for the launch of news organization The 19th*, which was founded to “shine a light on the unfinished business of the 19th Amendment and empower women.” However, Ramshaw didn’t miss the opportunity “turn the tables for a minute” to ask Meghan for her feelings in the 25-minute discussion. “I’m curious what it’s been like for you coming back to the United States in this moment, as a biracial woman in this moment of all these conversations around race and justice. What has that felt like for you?” she asked.

Pointing out how she had been living away from the U.S. for almost 10 years in Canada and the UK, Meghan said: “To come back and to just see the state of affairs, I think at the onset, if I’m being honest, it was just devastating. It was so sad to see where our country was in that moment.”

But, she added: “If there’s any silver lining in that, I would say that in the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, in the peaceful protests you were seeing, in the voices that were coming out, in the way that people were actually owning their role and acknowledging their role that they had played, either actively or passively, in the discrimination of other people, specifically of the Black community, it shifted from sadness to a feeling of absolute inspiration, because I can see that the tide is turning.”

The Duchess said that it was not new to her to see “this undercurrent of racism and certainly unconscious bias,” but added, “I think to see the changes that are being made right now is really—it’s something I look forward to being a part of.” And in an indication that she had felt stifled by the conventions placed on members of the royal family not to speak out on issues that could be deemed political, Meghan continued: “And being part of using my voice in a way that I haven’t been able to of late. So, yeah, it’s good to be home.”

The Duchess also shared her thoughts on the importance of voting. “When I have these conversations about encouraging people to go out and vote, I think it’s often challenging for men and women alike certainly for people to remember just how hard to was for people to get the right to vote. And to be really aware of not taking that for granted. I look at that, my husband for example, he’s never been able to vote. And I think it’s such an interesting thing to say the right to vote is not a privilege, it is a right in and of itself.” While technically all royal family members can vote, by convention the Queen doesn’t and it is generally assumed that other senior royals follow suit.

A source close to Meghan today told T&C that The 19th*’s mission to build a “diverse and representative newsroom immediately spoke to The Duchess and her desire to see more equitable coverage of women and people of colour in the news.” The 19th is non-profit and non-partisan and aims to have gender equity and diversity at its core. Other speakers at the summit included Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Melinda Gates; Stacey Abrams; Senator Tammy Duckworth; and Meryl Streep.

During the conversation, Meghan also spoke about trust in journalism and who has the influence. “If it’s only coming from a patriarchal lens, how that shapes everything that we see,” she said, adding: “What’s so fascinating, at least from my standpoint and my personal experience the past couple of years, is the headline alone, the clickbait alone, makes an imprint. That is part of how we start to view the world, how we interact with other people. And I think there is so much toxicity out there in what is being referred to, my husband and I talk about it often, this economy for attention.”

Source: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/

When Dan Tyrell received a delivery of prepared meals from Project Angel Food for himself and neighbor Becky Lincoln, who has type 1 diabetes, on Wednesday, he thought he recognized the masked volunteers dropping off the food. “I thought that tall red-headed guy looked pretty familiar, and that girl was pretty,” the West Hollywood local commented.

Moments later, after a glimpse of the nearby security guards and black SUVs, it clicked: The couple standing at his Los Angeles apartment complex was none other than Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan. BAZAAR.com understands that the couple have spent two days this past week volunteering with Project Angel Food, an outreach program that is now busier than ever delivering meals to at-risk people with life-threatening illnesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex first worked with the nonprofit organization on Easter Sunday, April 12, when they took to the roads to help deliver a week’s worth of prepared meals and emergency kits with nonperishables to dozens of people too sick to shop and cook for themselves.

“They told us they heard our drivers were overloaded and wanted to volunteer to lighten the drivers’ workload,” Project Angel Food’s executive director, Richard Ayoub, told WEHOville, a local news site serving the West Hollywood community. “It’s really, really amazing. We loved having them and they are the most down-to-earth people.”

The couple, who a source says “were properly distanced and followed all of the organization’s strong protective guidelines,” made more than 20 deliveries on April 15. Harry and Meghan were eager to volunteer after hearing how the charity—which is currently accepting donations—has been struggling to keep up with increase in demand due to the COVID-19 crisis. In the past month alone, Project Angel Food has seen more than 400 new people sign up to receive services.

A source close to the Sussexes tells BAZAAR.com, “In many places, volunteers—which are needed now more than ever—are serving incredibly long hours to support others. The couple is grateful for all of those volunteers, and inspired by the frontline workers, essential workers, and people everywhere who are committed to responding to needs of their communities in this crisis.”

Project Angel Food was founded during the height of the AIDS crisis in 1989 to provide food and connection to those suffering with the disease and living in fear. Since then, the organization has gone on to serve millions of people suffering from a wide range of life-threatening illnesses. The nonprofit currently cooks and delivers more than 600,000 nutritious meals a year in the Los Angeles County area.

Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com