Lady Gaga unveils Born This Way Foundation
Posted March 2, 2012 8:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, have teamed together to form a new charity called the Born This Way Foundation.
The non-profit organization will focus on self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development through research, education and advocacy.
During a press conference, held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Askwith Forum, Gaga detailed to Oprah Winfrey, who hosted the event, the three pillars of the charity.
“SSO,” Gaga said, referring to the acronym she uses to describe the mission.
“Number one: I want everyone to feel safe in their community, school, home, whatever city you live in.
“Two, developing the skills that is needed, that are needed to be a loving accepting and tolerant person and to also inject that sentiment into all the people around you — being a supportive human being.
“And the third is opportunity, I believe once you feel safe in your environment and you acquire the skills to be a loving and accepting person the opportunities for you are endless to become a great functioning human in society.”
Founded in 2011, Gaga has already put up $1.2 million US of her own money to start the foundation, with $200,000 of that going toward overhead costs. An additional $750,000 was raised from sales at Gaga’s Holiday Workshop where exclusive Gaga goods were sold at Barneys New York.
After the one-on-one with Winfrey, Gaga then participated in a mock trial that included Deepak Chopra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and others, to outline what she hopes to achieve with the foundation.
