Rihanna. When you hear that name you probably think of her most famous songs, such as “Work” and now “Love on the Brain,” as well as how much we want her and Drake to get together again. But just last week, Rihanna has accomplished something amazing outside of her musical career. On Tuesday, February 28, 2017 Rihanna was awarded Harvard’s Humanitarian of the Year Award.
A little background history about Rihanna:
She is from the island Barbados and is mixed with many different ethnicities. The fame and glory only came later in her life though. Rihanna was like a normal teenage girl that a lot of us could relate to. Her parents were divorced and she often felt that she needed to hide things to avoid seeming “abnormal” to her peers. To help express her feeling and get through life’s struggles, she turned to music and moved to the United States when she was just 16 years old. Even later in her music career, we still see Rihanna turning to music as an outlet for her emotions.
This outstanding women helped make history when receiving this award. Rihanna is now the first female singer to receive Harvard’s Humanitarian of the Year award.
The Humanitarian of the Year Award is a prestigious award that only the most impactful people receive. Rihanna has spent many years dedicating part of her life to charity work. In her acceptance speech, she mentions how she has always loved helping people and wanted to make a difference when she is older.
As just mentioned above, Rihanna has been deeply invested in her charity work. Over the years she has even founded some of her own programs and charities. In 2012 Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF). This foundation uses its funds to promote health, education, and different forms of art to people all over the world. If you would like to read more or donate to this foundation you can check out the website.
http://claralionelfoundation.org
In addition to the Clara Lionel Foundation, Rihanna founded The Believe Foundation in 2006. This foundation is mostly focused on raising money for families and children who are cancer patients.
While starting her own foundation was such an amazing accomplishment, she also supports many other charities and foundations. She is a very active supporter of foundations including: Alzheimer’s Association, Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation, Feeding America, DoSomething.org, and many more.
Rihanna also delivered one of the greatest acceptance speeches that day. Being the sassy women she is, she starts off her speech with a little humor saying “So I made it to Harvard…. Never thought I’d be able to say that in my life, but it feels good.” She accompanies this killer opening with a casual hair flip.
Throughout the rest of her speech she talks about what a humanitarian means to her, and how she has loved to help people from such a young age. If you would like to hear the full speech for yourself go to the following website:
Rihanna has been an excellent role model for women everywhere, and she continues to be better everyday. If you wish to support and donate like Rihanna to one of the charities mentioned then I encourage you to do research to see which foundation you would like to support.