Striving to keep Princess Grace’s legacy alive since her tragic death in 1982, the Princess Grace Foundation USA has recently launched a new global initiative: Grace Influential. What is this online platform and how is it engaging new generations with her ongoing influence and impact?
Grace Kelly may not have lived to see the days of social media, but her legacy is being shared far and wide in the new internet age. Uniting established luminaries as well as new generations, Grace Influential’s website and Instagram, developed in collaboration with the Princely Family, are showcasing Grace Kelly’s fashion, style and philanthropy as well as her passion for empowerment, equal rights and desire to create a better world. As individual efforts are made worldwide to remember not just her name, but the story behind it, Brisa Carleton, CEO of the Foundation and initiative, hopes this new platform can “act as a central hub” to help support and amplify other global events dedicated to Princess Grace.
A legacy accessible to everyone
Can we all live like a princess? In short, yes! Whilst Grace Kelly may have been an A list star, who swapped the Oscars for the Princely Family, that does not mean you need a celebrity budget to be like her. Grace Influential has a series of etiquette tutorials, entitled “Lessons in Grace”, as well as columns on how you can style the latest, affordable fashion trends her way.
The biggest element of her life that was about money was her philanthropy
Brisa Carleton, CEO of the Princess Grace Foundation USA and Grace Influential
Deeply inspired by the late Princess, Brisa explains that what makes her so timeless is her “sense of style and purpose,” how she was “independent… thoughtful and modern about her approach to things” and “always the one to set the trends rather than follow them”. For Brisa, we can all afford to learn from Grace Kelly, whether that be her wardrobe or her lifetime’s worth of philanthropic work, as her actions “had nothing to do with money,” but simply who she was as a person.
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Grace Influential: a light in dark times
Whilst the pandemic has forced many businesses to close and events to be postponed, the team behind Grace Influential were fortunate enough to actually use Covid-19 to their advantage. Having most of their events cancelled or rearranged, the Foundation was able use to use its new-found free time to complete Grace Influential: a digital first initiative, developed completely online, making it the perfect lockdown project. A silver lining to what has otherwise been a misfortunate year, this initiative is a chance to “celebrate someone who is so iconic and did so much good for the world, at a time when there are lots of dark things to talk about”.
The goal is to build a global community
Brisa Carleton, CEO of the Princess Grace Foundation USA and Grace Influential
A very positive response
“The engagement has been huge,” beams Brisa. Ever since the website and Instagram went live, the global community has been ever-expanding, especially after Prince Albert II gave an exclusive interview to Penta: the number of Grace Influential’s followers doubled. Brisa hopes that as the word continues to spread the support will continue to grow, especially as in-person events, which would focus on the different elements and values that were important to Princess Grace, look to be a possibility in the near future.
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