The woman who almost became president has a post-election wish. “Let us hope there is a wave of young women running for office in America,” Hillary Clinton said at the Girls Inc. fund-raiser Tuesday at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan’s Times Square celebrating “women of achievement.”
Wearing a bright red suit and multicolor blouse, Clinton — in a rare post-election public appearance — accepted the Girls Inc. Champion for Girls Award, to a standing ovation. She stayed clear of White House politics in her public remarks and spoke of how to handle life’s setbacks. “I have had my ups and downs in the last months. I’ve done my share of sleeping, soul-searching and taking long walks in the woods….Everybody gets knocked down; what matters is you get back up again and go again. Having the mental discipline to be graceful is what gives you a resilience.
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“I am thankful for my own village, my community and family and friends who have supported and encouraged me,” she continued. “I have also been buoyed by the love and support that I have received by the young women I have mentored over my lifetime. They inspire me every day.”
She also spoke of the “unfinished business of the 21st century being full equality for women” and the importance of Girls Inc. and its mission to provide girls with counseling, life skills and mentors to transcend gender, economic and social barriers and be healthy and independent. “Each of us here today has had someone in their corner,” Clinton said. “We have the privilege and the obligation to do the same for the next generation. Two years ago I wrote, ‘It Takes a Village.’ No child should have to navigate the world alone.”
Since her surprise loss to Donald Trump in the presidential election, Clinton has kept largely private but with her Girls Inc. speech and plans to speak Wednesday at an International Women’s Day event in Washington, D.C., she is gradually moving back into the public arena.
Others honored at the Girls Inc. event, which took in $206,570 and more than doubled last year’s figure, were Lisa Blau, an angel investor; Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson of Benefit Cosmetics; Shaun Robinson, president of SHAUN Foundation for Girls and former Access Hollywood anchor; Barry Sternlicht, chairman and ceo of Starwood Capital Group, and on behalf of Lockheed Martin, executive vice president Lorraine Martin.