Though Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are one of the cutest couples ever, Lively decided to spend her Valentine’s Day without her heartthrob husband last week. Instead of a date night, Lively worked with L’Oreal to plan an incredible party to celebrate women.
Blake was thrilled when she found out about the idea: “L’Oréal told me this idea they had to have a Valentine’s event with your gals—your best girlfriends.” This awesome event was dubbed Galentine’s Day, and Blake had a huge part in organizing it. “I got a little too involved. I said, ‘I don’t really just want to show up. I sort of want to plan it.’ It’s a lot more fun to plan a party when it’s not on your dime. I changed the party a bit.”
Lively’s excitement about the event didn’t just come from the planning and the organizing though. She was originally sold on the message, as she says, “I thought, ‘Right now, more than ever, it’s so great that women are coming together and supporting each other and building each other up.’” We are in such a dynamic time in which women are standing up and really coming together to empower one another. Blake’s inspiration behind this Valentine’s Day event turned the holiday into one celebrating love and support between strong women.
Lively admits that she had not recognized the discrimination against women personally until recently, when she realized how pervasive this problem is. She explained, “This is the first time in my lifetime where I have been aware of a woman’s worth being questioned. I know it happens all the time everywhere, but I never felt it. It’s made me so much more aware and empathetic to the challenges that women face always, because I’ve been really fortunate. I think it’s just so important that we come together and build each other up—and that we remind women of their value. It’s really beautiful to see women come together. It’s something I’ve never seen.”
Though Lively has been fortunate enough not to experience this inequality firsthand, she is still dedicated to recognizing her privilege and becoming more aware and vocal about the problems that affect women everywhere. Sometimes it’s easy to ignore the things that don’t personally and measurably affect us, but inequality negatively affects not only every woman, but every person. Because of this, it is vital that we support one another.
Blake reminds us all to wish the incredible women in your lives a happy Galentine’s Day, and remember that we empower ourselves by empowering each other.
Featured Image by GabboT on Flickr
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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