Anita Hill, Nadia Murad, Katy Perry, and More Received DVF Awards at Last Night’s Ceremony
April 13, 2019, Ciarra Lorren Zatorski
Read Vogue article here.
“There will be waves of women coming after you,” said Anita Hill, Brandeis University professor and this year’s recipient of the DVF Lifetime Leadership Award. She was citing an anonymous letter she received back in the early 1990s, written to her after she was challenged before the Senate for her sexual assault allegations against Clarence Thomas.
Hill continued, admitting, “I had absolutely no idea what she [the writer of the letter] was talking about.” But Hill would soon find out. The waves of women came in the form of a flood, with brave individuals sharing similar stories and igniting a conversation that was rarely had. Last night, that spirit of openness and female camaraderie was alive and thriving at the 10th Annual DVF Awards, honoring women with the strength and courage to fight, survive, and inspire.
Self-defined feminist Diane von Furstenberg opened the evening, introducing Nadia Murad, one of 51 extraordinary women recognized by the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation over the past 10 years. “I support women because I am so in awe of women,” von Furstenberg professed. “The 21st century is the century of women, and we need to get together in order to save humanity.”
As a global advocate for survivors of sexual assault and genocide, as well as the co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, the Iraqi-born Murad was honored with this year’s International DVF Award. Murad and Hill are among the long list of female powerhouses to be honored by von Furstenberg: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Dr. Jane Goodall, Natalia Vodianova, Oprah Winfrey, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, to name just a few.
Also awarded this year were Hadeel Mustafa Anabtawi (founder of the Alchemist Lab, an educational center devoted to children in cities, remote villages, and refugee camps), Susan Burton (founder of A New Way of Life Reentry Project, which is dedicated to breaking the cycle of incarceration), and Katy Perry (international superstar, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and champion for LGBTQ+ equality).
Following von Furstenberg, Gloria Steinem, Arianna Huffington, Julia Stiles, and Allison Williams presented awards to the honorees. One by one, the inspiring women filled the ever-so-chicly transformed Brooklyn Museum hall with their anecdotes of survival, declarations of gratitude, and motivational acceptance speeches. The celebrity-filled crowd barely had a chance to enjoy the plush white leather couches situated within the hall, as standing ovations were in order for each recipient. Olivia Palermo, Coco Rocha, Tina Brown, Seth Meyers, Fran Lebowitz, and the night’s performers, Chloe x Halle, were among those uprooted from their seats. Elaine Welteroth, the evening’s emcee, took to the stage to confess she was brought to tears more than three times before all five honorees were awarded.
“The waves will continue,” Hill acknowledged as she closed the ceremony. “And so will I.” She could not be any more accurate.