Rihanna Awarded Humanitarian of the Year by Harvard University

Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a well-known international singer, songwriter, and actress who has touched the lives of people in more ways than one.
She grew up in the Caribbean and moved to the United States at the age of 16. She began a career in music with Def Jam Records a year later and when Rihanna was 18, she founded the BELIEVE Foundation, a charity to help critically ill children. The overall mission of the foundation is to raise awareness of the impact of blood cancers, such as leukemia, and to aid the 10,000 people in need of a bone marrow transplant each year, and recruit and register nearly 4,000 new bone marrow donors.
Six years later, in 2012, she established the Clara Lionel Foundation. This foundation is named after her grandparents.
The death of her late grandmother, Clara who lost her fight with cancer, is one of the motivating forces behind her starting the charity. It supports and funds innovative and effective education and health programs around the world.
Through the Clara Lionel Foundation, Rihanna purchased radiotherapy equipment for the oncology unit, Clara B. Wade Center of Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados in 2012.
Recently in 2016, she launched a global scholarship program through the foundation which helps residents of Barbados, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Guyana, Jamaica and the United States go to college.
Rihanna is not only known for her pop music, and unapologetic style but she also has recently been recognized for her hard work and service to her community. In late February, Rihanna was awarded the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award by Harvard University. She was quoted saying that she is “incredibly humbled” to receive the award. This award has been given to leaders such as gender-rights advocate Malala Yousafzai and workers-rights activist Dolores Huerta.
She has used her wealth, influence and international stardom to advocate for access to health care and education and speak for women and girls.
When receiving her reward, Rihanna said, “So I made it to Harvard, never thought I would be able to say that in my life but it feels good,” accompanied by a sassy hair flip. She continued to speak about what pushed her to humanitarianism. Even while she personally accepted the award, she encouraged the young adults there by saying, “As I stare out into this beautiful room I see optimism and hope, I see the future.”
Student Savaria Goodman spoke strongly about Rihanna saying, “ I like how she did that. Not only did she carry herself with grace but she also was humble and did not boast like other people would probably have done. She is an example of how there is a time to be wild and a time to be classy.” Rihanna, an inspiring role model and great humanitarian, through her humanitarian efforts, encourages others to hold themselves to a higher expectation. In addition, she also helps give young people a chance to achieve things she was not able to achieve herself, such as receive a college education.
She is the definition of women’s empowerment.