The 15 women on the cover of Duchess Meghan’s issue of British Vogue

July 29, 2019

On July 28, it was revealed <strong><a href="/tags/0/meghan-markle">Duchess Meghan</a></strong> will <a href="https://ca.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2019072875816/meghan-markle-editing-role-british-vogue-details/"><strong>guest-edit the September issue</a></strong> of <i>British Vogue</i>, which hits store shelves Aug. 2. The issue is titled "Forces for Change," and features 15 women who the duchess believes are making a significant difference in the world today.
<p>The duchess herself won't appear on the cover, since she thought doing so would be "boastful," and opted to feature those whose stories, activism and efforts inspire her instead.
<p><strong>Click through or reading to see who the duchess chose, and learn more about their lives!</strong>
<p>Photos: © Getty Images

<h2>Adwoa Aboah</h2>
<p>The British model was born to a Ghanaian father and mother who is a member of the Lowther family, headed by the Earl of Lonsdale.
<p>She has appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Fendi, DKNY, H&M, ALDO, Erdem and more.
<P>Adwoa also heads Gurls Talk, which describes itself as “an online community for young women to discuss issues such as education, depression, mental health, relationships, art, problems, sexuality” and more.”
<p>“I can’t even begin to explain what an honor this is,” she wrote on Instagram. “To have been chosen by HRH The Duchess of Sussex and @edward_enninful as one of 15 #forcesforchange because of all the work I do with @gurlstalk feels like one of the biggest achievements yet.”
<p>Photo: © Mike Marsland/WireImage

<h2>Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</h2>
<p>The Nigerian writer is known for novels such as <i>Half of a Yellow Sun</i>, <i>Purple Hibiscus</i> and <i>Americanah</i> and non-fiction such as <i>We Should All Be Feminists</i>.
<p>Chimamanda won a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2008, and is also known for her TED and TEDx Talks “The Danger of a Single Story” and “We Should All Be Feminists.” In the former, she explains the importance of diverse voices and representation in literature, and the latter inspired her book of the same name.
<p>Photo: © Rindoff/Charriau/Getty Images

Adut Akech

Born in South Sudan, Adut was raised in Kenya and moved to Australia as a refugee when she was seven years old.

She started modelling when she was 16, and was later scouted by Saint Laurent at Melbourne Fashion Week. Since then, she’s appeared in campaigns for Valentino, Zara, Moschino and modelled for the lies of Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Prade, Tom Ford, Jason Wu, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Versace and more. Her modelling career has led to her appearing in publications such as Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vogue Paris and more.

“Feeling so extremely honored and proud to be on the September 2019 Issue cover of @britishvogue #forcesofchange along side [sic] the most inspirational women I know,” she wrote on Instagram.

“A few nights ago I got one of the best surprise, a phone call from The Duchess of Sussex herself to tell me she was the guest-editor of this issue. She told me that she finds me and my story so inspiring and those words I will never forget for the rest of my life. The thought of being chosen by HRH The Duchess of Sussex @sussexroyal and @edward_enninful as one of the… amazing women looked as the #Forcesofchange completely blows my mind!”

Photo: © Peter White/Getty Images

<h2>Ramla Ali</h2>
<p>Born in Somalia, Ramla (pictured at left) moved to the UK as a refugee when she was two years old due to Somalia’s civil war. She went on to become the UK’s first Muslim women’s boxing champion, and has also been a big part of helping found Somalia’s boxing federation.
“An absolute honour to have been selected by the Duchess of Sussex… to be included in this years [sic] front cover of the September issue for British Vogue,” she wrote on Instagram. “Boxing is a selfish sport by its nature but more important than your own personal goals is what you can do for others whether through the raising of awareness of important issues or through inspiration.”
<p>Photo: © Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Jacinda Ardern

Duchess Meghan and New Zealand's prime minister first met each other during Meghan and Harry's tour of New Zealand, Australia, Tonga and Fiji in October 2018.

Jacinda got into politics early, joining the New Zealand Labour Party at just 17 years of age. She became a Labour MP in 2008, ascended to Deputy Leader nine years later, and became the country’s prime minister the same year.

Earlier this year, Jacinda drew international praise for her response to the Christchurch mosque shootings. She described the massacres, in which 51 people were killed in two shootings at mosques in the city, as terrorist attacks. She declared New Zealand would respond by strengthening firearms laws, travelled to the city to meet with victims, their families and first responders, and was seen wearing a hijab at memorial events. She also asked Prince William to visit New Zealand a month after the attacks.

Photo: © Phil Walter/AFP/Getty Images

Sinéad Burke

Sinéad has achrondroplasia, a genetic disorder that results in dwarfism. She became famous for her 2017 TED Talk, “Why Design Should Include Everyone,” and advocates on behalf of those with disabilities, stating that quite often, they are forced to move through a world which has only been designed with able-bodied people in mind.

She co-founded the Inclusive Fashion and Design Collective to “challenge designers who traditionally haven’t been thinking very diversely, to work with people with disabilities, and find beautiful solutions to these problems.”

“I’m so very proud, incredibly honoured and humbled to be one of the fifteen Forces for Change featured on the cover of British Vogue’s September issue, chosen by a very special guest editor, the Duchess of Sussex,” she tweeted on Sunday.

Photo: © Karwai Tang/WireImage

<h2>Christy Turlington Burns</h2>
<p>The supermodel is of course known for her campaigns for Calvin Klein and Maybelline, but she’s also done extensive work with pregnancy and maternal health worldwide.
<p>In 2010, Christy founded Every Mother Counts, which raises money to help mothers give birth safely worldwide. She also directed the documentary <i>Every Mile, Every Mother</i> to raise awareness about issues women still face when they try to access healthcare worldwide.
<p>Christy has also been extensively active with the organization CARE, and travelled to countries such as Swaziland, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Peru to do work on women’s health issues and maternal health.
<p>Photo: © Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Gemma Chan

London-born Gemma is known for her roles in films such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Transformers: The Last Knight and Crazy Rich Asians. She’s But did you know she could also easily find work as a lawyer? Following her graduation from Worcester College at Oxford, she worked at a law firm, but eventually felt called into acting, where she’s been very successful in landing massive roles.

“I took my mum and dad with me to the [Crazy Rich Asians] premiere in London, and they were just in tears,” she told The Guardian on July 28. “My mum said to me, she never expected to see people [ on screen] who looked like her family, the food that we ate, music that was in the soundtrack that she hadn’t heard since her childhood. It was really personal and really special.”

Photo: © David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Michael Kors

Laverne Cox

Laverne, who is transgender, shot to stardom in 2014 with her role as Sophia Burset on Orange is the New Black. She landed an Emmy nomination for the role, becoming the first transgender person to ever be nominated for one of the awards, and won a Daytime Emmy Award for her job producing Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word.

Laverne does a lot of advocacy work on behalf of transgender people worldwide and has been outspoken about how to make life better for transgender people.

“I am completely overwhelmed and overjoyed to share this cover,” she wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “Being on the cover of Vogue magazine has been a dream of mine since I was a child. To get to share this cover with this group of women who inspire me, who are truly forces for change is deeply humbling.”

<h2>Jane Fonda</h2>
<p>The two-time Academy Award and BAFTA winner, four-time Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award winner is also famous for her social justice work, which she's engaged in throughout her career.
<p>Jane is well known for her peace and justice work, her commitment to feminist causes, her advocacy for Indigenous peoples in the United States and her environmentalism. In the mid-2000s, she took all of her experience with these causes and founded the Jane Fonda Foundation. She still puts in at least 10 hours a week there.
<p>Photo: © Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix

<h2>Salma Hayek Pinault</h2>
<p>Salma is well known for her roles in films such as <i>Frida</i>, for which she was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award. But she’s also been highly involved in charitable work focusing on violence against women throughout her career. She campaigned for women’s rights in Afghanistan in 2014, and has been outspoken about discrimination women in Lebanon face after visiting the country in 2015.
<p>She is also a breastfeeding advocate and prompted worldwide headlines when she breastfed a baby whose mother couldn’t produce milk while she was visiting Sierra Leone in 2009. When asked why she did it, Salma said she wanted to normalize breastfeeding.
<p>Photo: © Mike Marsland/WireImage

<h2>Francesca Hayward</h2>
<p>Ballerina Francesca was born in Kenya to an English father and Kenyan mother, and started learning ballet in London at age two. By 2013, she was promoted to First Artist and had made Principal three years later. She will star as Victoria in <i>Cats</i>, scheduled to open in theatres in December.
<p>“I have been reading Vogue since I was a little girl so I can’t explain what this means to be on the cover of the September Issue 2019 which was guest-edited by HRH The Duchess of Sussex,” she wrote on Sunday.
<p>Photo: © John Snelling/Getty Images

Jameela Jamil

Jameela is known for her role on The Good Place and has used her celebrity to draw attention to body positivity in recent years. She launched Why Not People?, an organization that aims to make entertainment events accessible to people with disabilities, in 2015.

Three years later, she attracted attention for I Weigh, an Instagram project that listed teh weights of celebrities such as the Kardashian and Jenner sisters, as a way to reduce stigma surrounding weight.

Jameela has also been a critic of diet products, saying as a teenager, she used laxatives and engaged in disordered eating practices.

“I grew up never seeing Pakistani or Indian girls on the cover of magazines, and this means the world to teenage me,” she wrote on Instagram on Monday. “I was also a teen model briefly and thought I would have to starve myself to get into Vogue, and it’s a … beautiful thing that it’s actually my fight against those impossible beauty standards and the diet products I tried to use to get me to that weight, got me here in the end!”

<h2>Yara Shahidi</h2>
<p>Nineteen-year-old Yara, who is the daughter of Iranian-American and African-American parents, has gained attention since 2014 with her roles on <i>Black-ish</i> and <i>Grown-ish</i>. She has also been outspoken about violence against people of colour, and founded Yara’s Club, which works with the Young Women’s Leadership Network to try to end poverty through education.
<p>Photo: © Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

<h2>Greta Thunberg</h2>
<p>At just 16 years of age, Greta’s name has quickly become a household moniker in her home of Sweden. Just last year, she began protesting outside the Swedish parliament, attempting to raise awareness about climate change. She organized a worldwide global protest on March 15, 2019, in which 1.4 million students walked out of school to protest climate change.
<p>Photo: © Micah Garen/Getty Images