Meghan Markle.Photo: NDZ/Star Max/GC Images
Meghan Marklewas a young entrepreneur!
The Duchess of Sussex, 40, joinedThe New York TimesDealBook Online Summit, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Dealbook on Tuesday. During a conversation with host Andrew Ross Sorkin and Ariel Investments' Co-C.E.O. and President Mellody Hobson, Meghan revealed her very first business venture.
“I remember when I was really young — I must have been 8 or 9 — I started making scrunchies to sell,” she said in the conversation, which covered women’s efforts to achieve economic and professional parity. “I had my mom take me downtown to get scraps of fabric from the fabric stores, and sell them like five for five bucks, who knows.”
She continued, “I remember the feeling of knowing that I had done something, I had invested in myself and done this labor and been compensated for it. There’s a sense of pride that comes from that.”
Meghan Markle at the NYT DealBook Summit in November 2021.NYT DealBook Summit
Speaking about how women still make less than men, Meghan said thatshe was taught financial literacy from a young ageand noted that it’s still “ingrained” in her.
“Do they have coupons anymore? I don’t know — but I will never buy anything online without finding an online promo code first,” she said. “That’s still in there. It’s a modern version of the same thing.”
In addition to her job at Paper Source, she worked as a freelance calligrapher, writing the invitations for Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding in 2005.
NYT DealBook Summit
As Remembrance Day approaches, the mom of two — who joked that she “doesn’t get out much” — wore a black pants and top adorned with a poppy pin, thered flowerthat has been used since 1921 to commemorate military members who have died in war in the U.K.
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Meghan also said that felt a need to speak up in a way that she has since she was young, alluding to when she, at just as 11 years old,called out a Procter & Gamble commercialthat advertised its Ivory dishwashing soap solely to women. After writing a letter to the company, they changed their slogan from “Women all over America” to “People all over America.”
“When my life and lifestyle were very different,” she said, “I always stood up for what was right.”
source: people.com
