Meghan Markle has certainly taken part in her fair share of interviews in the last few months, with each one just as interesting and insightful as the other.
This time, Markle was on the other side of the microphone to interview somebody else—Serena William’s husband, Alexis Ohanian.
Discussing activism and social awareness in the tech world, the two joined in conversation as part of the Time100 series for Time magazine.
Noting that her interview with Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit, felt more “formal than their usual chats”, Markle and Ohanian discussed his career in the tech world and why he chose to step away from the firm he co-founded, specifically to make way for a person of colour.
The pair went onto discuss their common desire to use their platforms to create better futures for their children, with Ohanian opening up about his newfound motivation because of his daughter, saying:
“I just can’t help but want to create a world that is just fair to my daughter…. And I know that that’s lofty, but it’s a thing worth striving toward. And you know, I’m gonna work every day to get a little better.”
Ohanian shares a three-year-old daughter, Olympia, with tennis star Serena Williams, Markle shares her one-year-old son, Archie, with Prince Harry.
Speaking candidly about his decision to publicly encourage his company to appoint a Black person in his place, Ohanian revealed that he is still receiving hate mail four months later.
The internet entrepreneur explained, “I thought about the role that it plays and the role that all social media companies play in our society and the world that it’s shaping for everyone, including people like my daughter, like my wife. I knew that I had a responsibility to be able to answer her when she asked me in 10 years—when she’s a snarky teenager—you know, what I did to help be a part of making things better for her.”
“You are leading by example,” Markle said, referring to Ohanian. “And I’m sorry to hear that you’re still receiving hate mail.”
Markle, who’s no stranger to discrimination and online abuse, responded with, “I know we have shared experiences in being in interracial marriages and, you know, raising small children who are of mixed race and how that plays into that.”
From there, Ohanian went onto reveal that his relationship with Williams not only gave him perspective, but also inspired him to strive for a better world for his wife and daughter, saying:
“I’ve had so many moments in my life where I was given the benefit of the doubt, where I never felt unsafe, where I always felt heard, where I did not realise until I was in a relationship with someone who has achieved as much as she has and still regularly deals with this in painful frustrating ways.”
He concluded, “And as a husband you just get outraged, and then especially now in the role as a father, I just can’t help but want to create a world that is just fair to my daughter. It’s a thing worth striving toward.”
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