Besides being a member of the British royal family and pretty successful actress, Meghan Markle is known for bucking the status quo and fighting for positive change.
One cause that’s particularly close to her heart is women’s rights and she’s done some incredible work advocating for women throughout her public life.
But her fight for women and equality didn’t begin when she became a celebrity. It started when she was just a kid and it involved appearing on a Nickelodeon show.
Back in 1993 when Meghan was just 12, she saw an ad for some dishwashing soap and was appalled to see how it heavily implied that cleaning was something reserved only for women.
Rather than sit back, Meghan decided to do something and she wrote letters to the soap manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, Hillary Clinton and Nick News anchor Linda Ellerbee.
To her surprise, Proctor & Gamble responded positively and later changed the ad to say “people” instead of “women”. Due to her efforts, Meghan was invited by Nickelodeon to appear on Nick News to talk about her activism, which is cool because it’s a) nice seeing your efforts be recognised, and b) Nickel-freaking-loden and being on it is a dream for any kid.
When why she had no hesitation in calling out Proctor & Gamble for its sexist ad, her response was eloquent and it makes you forget that she was only 12 at the time she said it:
“I don’t think it is right for kids to grow up thinking that mom does. If you see something that you don’t like or offended by on television or any other place, write letters and send them to the right people and you can really make a difference, not just for yourself but for lots of other people.”
That appearance on Nick News proved to be a sign of much greater things to come as she later went on become “Meghan Markle” and the feminist icon everyone admires today.
The future Duchess of Sussex was already fighting for meaningful change in the world as a kid while 12-year-old me wanted to appear on Nickelodeon Guts or something because it looked like fun. Maybe I should’ve angled for Nick News instead.