Meghan Markle took the interviewer chair for a chat with co-founder and CEO of The 19th*, Emily Ramshaw.
The discussion ranged from why Ramshaw wanted to start The 19th* the desire to see more women and people of colour in the news.
Both women and mothers, Meghan noted how they were able to have the chat on a “human level.”
#19thRepresents: Thank you to @ProfessorCrunk and Robin DiAngelo for an incredible conversation!
Next up, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, interviews @eramshaw, our co-founder and CEO. https://t.co/1HZNydmPDD
— 19thnews (@19thnews) August 14, 2020
“It’s good to be home,” Meghan told Ramshaw.
“It was so sad to see where our country was in that moment,” Meghan said of returning to the United States just before the killings of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. “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 that you were seeing, in the voices that were coming out, in the way that people were actually owning their role… it shifted from sadness to a feeling of absolute inspiration, because I can see that the tide is turning.”
She added, “From my standpoint, it’s not new to see this undercurrent of racism and certainly unconscious bias, but 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 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 19th* is “a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics and policy.”
Meghan praised The 19th* and their vision: “You just took that jump and you took that leap of faith. And I think there’s so much we can all learn from that, that in those moments where it might feel scary, you just need to trust your gut.”
Part of Meghan and Prince Harry’s departure from the royal family also meant that they didn’t need to take part in the royal rota anymore and could pick which news agencies received their information.
“What’s so fascinating, at least from my standpoint and my personal experience the past couple of years, is that the headline alone, the clickbait alone, makes an imprint,” Meghan said. “That is part of how we start to view the world, how we interact with other people.”
With the 2020 election fast approaching, Meghan said that voting is “incredibly important” to her.
She continued, “People are craving a change. In the place we’re all in right now, there’s such a moment where people are starting to question the systems we’ve always believed in.”
The 19th*’s launch which coincides with next week’s suffrage centennial, Meghan spoke about how “suffragette” was a pejorative when it first was coined.
“This term, coined by one man in 1906, has stuck as part of a movement,” she explained. “When you look at that, and look through that lens of the power of one person’s influence in the media to be able to shape an entire movement or way of thinking … If women had their voice heard as equally, how different that would have been.”
Meghan also revealed she has been speaking with “legend” Gloria Steinem on the voting issues the U.S. is facing right now.
Speaking to Glamour magazine about why she wanted to participate, the Duchess of Sussex said: “The 19th*’s commitment to reporting and storytelling that lifts up those who are too often underrepresented in the media has never been more important. I’m looking forward to asking the cofounder what it means to build a media outlet with gender equity, diversity, and community at its core.”
The 19th* Represents Summit included guest speakers Kamala Harris, Meryl Streep and Hillary Clinton.