Princess Diana

"People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer (to fulfillment). Actually a job is better for me."

Growing up, there were few people as iconic as Princess Diana. I wasn't alive for her 1981 fairy tale wedding to Prince Charles, but she was one of the first celebrities that I admired. At the time, I thought of her as a style icon, someone who always presented herself perfectly, but there was so much more to her than beauty and grace.

Instead of limiting herself to the public appearances and ribbon cuttings, Princess Diana used her celebrity status to highlight issues that others were ignoring. From AIDS to Landmines to local issues, Diana was the champion of her causes and helped make the world a better place. In April 1987, She was the first high profile celebrity to be photographed touching an AIDS-infected person, showing that, "if the Princess of Wales could hold the hand of a man with AIDS, who could claim to be above it?" (Bill Clinton, 2001). 

Another cause close to her heart, especially in the last years of her life, was the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. In January 1997, she visited Angolia as an International Red Cross VIP Volunteer, where she visited land mine survivors in hospitals, toured de-mining projects run by the HALO trust, and attended mine awareness education classes about the dangers of mines immediately surrounding homes and villages. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for their efforts, only months after her death.

I still remember watching her funeral with my stepmother, in awe of the emotion that her untimely death caused the world. But Princess Diana not only left behind more than her two sons, she left behind a legacy of service. There is now the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to support her charitable causes, and charity work is now the expectation of public figures, not an exception.

"Two things stand like stone - kindness in another's trouble and courage in your own"