On Tuesday evening, the Duchess of Sussex attended the 2023 Ms. Foundation for Women‘s Women of Vision Awards at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. The event celebrated “50 years of progress and power,” per the website. The organization focuses on bringing awareness to different hurdles that women, specifically women of color and from underprivileged communities, continue to face, in the hope of changing state and nationwide policies.

Markle was one of the honorees of the night for the international work she’s done to benefit women and girls. Her husband, Prince Harry, and mother, Doria Ragland, also attended the event with her. Gloria Steinem, the co-founder of the Ms. Foundation for Women, introduced Markle before presenting her with the well-deserved award.

During Markle’s powerful acceptance speech, she shared how receiving the award was a full-circle moment because she’s always been a fan of Ms. magazine, even as a child.

“The magazines said ‘Ms.’ on them, and I remember them vividly because the pictures were different. There was a diversity that I hadn’t seen as often, both of color and of age and the names were different,” she told the crowd during her speech, according to Town & Country magazine. “There were congresswomen, there were astronauts. And the topics were different: from mothering to being a working mom to heavier topics such as domestic violence, the poverty line — unearthing its roots, where it comes from — and matters of equity.”

The social activist credited her mother’s subscription to the magazine as one of things that inspired her personally and professionally to become a champion for herself and women around the world.

“I knew that the significance of these magazines was important,” she said. “I mean, it wasn’t a one-off. She had a subscription!”

“And having these pages in our home, it signaled to me that there was just so much more than the dolled-up covers and the images that you would see on the grocery store covers. It signaled to me that substance mattered,” she added.

She went on to say that the magazine’s presence in her household was “more than a tool that I inherently learned from. It was an invitation to pay very close attention to the fact that change is just one action away.”

After a wonderful night celebrating women, things took a dangerous turn when the excitement of her presence continued outside the doors of the event. As Blavity reported, when Markle and her family were leaving, they were ambushed by the paparazzi, which led to them being followed in their car for more than two hours. Although they were unharmed, other drivers and pedestrians were involved in near accidents due to the aggressiveness of the media.

Check out a snippet of Markle’s captivating speech below:

Meghan’s speech – recounting seeing Ms. Magazine pic.twitter.com/p0AMWYv132

— Steph Petit (@stephpetit_) May 17, 2023