HTLS 2020: Priyanka Chopra reveals advice from mom that motivates her to give back to society

Actor Priyanka Chopra spoke about the importance of giving back to society and using her platform as a ‘global icon’, at the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Friday. She was joined in the virtual interaction by her husband, singer-actor Nick Jonas.

Priyanka said that from a very young age, she had been made aware of the responsibility that she had been bestowed with, as someone who could ‘influence’ the masses. She said that while she doesn’t expect to change anyone’s mind about certain issues, she can certainly try and educate them about matters close to her heart.

Speaking about her efforts to create awareness for education of young girls across the world, and her role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she said, “My mom told me this when I was young: ‘No matter how badly off you are, someone else is worse off than you’. You just have to think about that every time you step out of the door.” Priyanka an Nick were speaking to Sonal Kalra (Managing Editor-Entertainment, Hindustan Times).

She said that ‘unfortunately or fortunately’, the kind of media that is predominantly consumed is ‘pop-culture-driven’. And because of this, ‘we are the means to an end’. She added, “By taking a public person into an area that needs attention, people consume it a lot more. So that is what our job is. Instead of spending every single day on paying jobs, we spend time on trying to bring attention to something that people are not paying attention to. That is the power of the platform, and there are some people who do it, and there are people do not do it.”

Priyanka said that half the world’s population is female, and yet women do not have many positions of authority in ‘governance’ and in the ‘corporate sector’. “We are not given enough opportunities, we are not given enough rights,” said.

Priyanka also spoke about the coronavirus pandemic, and what the impact that the event had on her. “We very much recognised our privilege, and recognised that we could stay in a space that kept us safe,” she said. “We have the ability to stay in touch with our families, we have the ability to be quarantined. There are so many people in the world that don’t even have the space to do that, don’t have the ability to get home, like the migrant workers that we saw in India.”

She concluded on a hopeful note. “This time has shown us that humanity is resilient, we’ve seen a lot of people step up and do as much as they can for their communities. We’ve done it as well... to help as much as we can. We’ll come out of this,” she said.

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