Meghan Markle: The Humanitarian

By this point, we are familiar with Meghan Markle, the American beauty who has captured Prince Harry’s heart. However, most times she is referenced as an Actress as her most recognised role is Rachel Zane on Suits, but Meghan is far more.

One of Meghan’s biggest passions is her humanitarian work, a trait she shares with Prince Harry.

Just last year, Meghan became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada. With this role, she flew to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. The campaign is “focused on providing clean water and sanitation to every man, woman, and child in every community we work in, including the most vulnerable populations in the hardest-to-reach places.” At this point, they are providing a new person with clean water every 10 seconds.

She has also worked as an Advocate for the Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women campaign with the United Nations which leads the HeForShe initiative that has other famous faces like fellow actress Emma Watson.

Photo: UN Women/Simon Luethi

Additionally last year, Meghan attended the 2016 One Young World Summit in Ottawa, where she previously spoke at the 2014 summit in Dublin on modern-day slavery and gender equality. Writing a piece in 2014, she said: “When I was asked to be a Counsellor at One Young World, my response was a resounding ‘yes,’

“One Young World invites young adults from all over the world who are actively working to transform the socio-political landscape by being the greater good. They are delegates who are speaking out against human rights violations, environmental crises, gender equality issues, discrimination and injustice. They are the change.”

The 2016 summit saw 1,300 young leaders from 196 countries, other guests including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cher.Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’2uRyLuPbRcpWqfIr16Fmig’,sig:’P-AMcwXpJfGx-kWdnco5bheaERdLn-g8BzslRBYbFu4=’,w:’363px’,h:’594px’,items:’620135898′,caption: true ,tld:’ca’,is360: false })});//embed-cdn.gettyimages.com/widgets.js
She has used her celebrity status for good, travelling on the USO tour in 2014 to Afghanistan with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Her passion for servicemen and women may have been a quality that first bonded her and Harry.

In a past essay on her website, Meghan spoke about balancing her work: “I’m consistently asked how I keep a foot in two contrasting worlds—one in the entertainment industry, predicated on wealth and indulgence, and the other in humanitarian work. To me, it’s less of a question of how can you do this, and more a question of how can you not?

“While my life shifts from refugee camps to red carpets, I choose them both because these worlds can, in fact, coexist. And for me, they must.”Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’6q0KBEIjRqZPRJXv_9J5iA’,sig:’DCv2waaEEMOnXuFOILqsP1VQJQpLK367GhzoZkluBrQ=’,w:’594px’,h:’394px’,items:’457364794′,caption: true ,tld:’ca’,is360: false })});//embed-cdn.gettyimages.com/widgets.js
The balance Meghan has already managed to achieve will be crucial if (or more likely, when) she marries into ‘The Firm’ and knowing where she stands will help her develop the platforms to which the rest of her life will be based around. A job in which she will undoubtedly thrive in.