If there’s one thing we know about Rihanna, it’s that she’s pretty selfless when it comes to her fame. Something you may not know is that throughout her years as a global superstar, Rihanna has been making donations left right and centre to charities that feel close to her heart.
Because of this, she has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year, an award that recognises prominent public-spirited leader’s yearly to honour the late Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes.
Back in 2012, Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program to honour her late grandparents. The program bids to fund innovative and effective education and health programmes and assists citizens or natives of Brazil, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana and Jamaica, who plan to continue their college education in the United States. During an annual Diamond Ball in 2015, where over $3 million was raised for her the Clara Lionel Foundation, Rihanna spoke to Variety about her reasons behind founding the program, and her grandparents whom had encouraged a ‘family dynamic that valued caring for and helping one another.’
’That’s what I want to do for my global family, too, with a focus on health, education, art and culture. One penny at a time, one donation at a time, one country at a time, one child at a time – we’re going to make a difference.'
Just last month, she travelled to Malawi to spend time with key educators, students and government officials to promote education as an ambassador for Global Citizen and the Global Partnership for Education – a campaign that provides children with access to education in over 60 developing countries.Evidently she hasn’t stopped there, and has funded a state-of-the-art centre for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados.
It’s her lack of self-promotion when it comes to f this charity work that's so striking. If a celebrity donates to charity, or does something notable for a cause in need, while it’s an incredible sentiment and should be celebrated is there really the need for 12 simultaneous Instagram posts about just how good they've been? Obviously Rihanna already has a platform, and a voice to make a difference, but it’s refreshing that she hasn’t reminded us second by second of all her hard work - she's just got on with it and done it the RihRih way.
She will be presented with her award on 28th of February, at the Sanders Theatre, Harvard Campus and is joining past honourees like girls’s education advocate Malala Yousafzai and four recent U.N Secretaries General.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.