Actress and producer? Yes. Youngest UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador ever? Also yes. At age 20, she has already had successes that would fulfill many a lifetime. But Millie has a lot of runway left to explore.
The Spanish born, English actress first appeared in 2013, then landed a role in 2016’s Stranger Things that brought her critical acclaim and award nominations. By 2018, she was on Time’s 100 most influential people, the youngest to ever appear on that list. She was also appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, all by age 14.
She co-produced the Enola Holmes movie at 16, then Enola Holmes at 18, both well-received productions.
Along the way, she created a skin care line for younger women that works with their unique chemistry and body needs. She shut down comments on her social media platforms because of the vitriol and others stating what she should or shouldn’t be, when she was still figuring out both what that was and what it could be. Such ugliness is real, and women of all ages deal with it at all ages, but it never means that you need to allow or condone it.
Her UNICEF actions and messages are a combination of asking adults to listen to the dreams and demands of today’s youth, and take responsibility for the world issues they contributed to or have not done enough for. In turn, she asks youth to give grace to adults, and focus on common ground to care for the world around us.
You can find her on the major social media platforms.
PS I mentor and tutor youth from middle school upwards. They are not encumbered by the adult filers we’ve embraced. Their frontal cortices are not the firewalls adults often have, and they are still gaining knowledge. Give them space to be creative without judgment. Go beyond “that can’t work” to “how could it work”, because those tidbits will create a better place for all of us.
#womanshistorymonth
#womenwhoinspireme
