Lea Michele rocks a chic brown dress while arriving for Variety’s 2023 Power of Women held at The Grill on Tuesday (April 4) in New York City.
17.03.2023 - 17:33 / variety.com
Jordan Moreau Variety’s 2023 Power of Women: New York event will honor Judy Blume, Natasha Lyonne, Rosie Perez, Kelly Ripa and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. The Power of Women issue will release on Wednesday, March 29, and the event, in partnership with Lifetime, will celebrate the honorees in New York on Tuesday, April 4. This year’s honorees include: The program will be hosted by actress, comedian and writer Ego Nwodim, who has been a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” since 2018.
“We are excited to gather in New York to salute those who are making a difference and to amplify the vital non-profit organizations championed by this year’s honorees,” said Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, CEO & Group Publisher, Variety. “We are also grateful to Lifetime for their enduring support and partnership of Variety’s tentpole Power of Women event. We look forward to collaborating again to make this special franchise a successful gathering for all.”
“We continue to be inspired, educated and entertained by these incredible honorees and thrilled that our long-standing partnership with Variety spotlights women at the core of excellence in all they do,” said Amy Winter, EVP and Head of Programming, Lifetime & LMN. Exclusive, curated gift bags will be given to honorees and guests at the event with entertainment, beauty, health and fashion products, from companies including OUAI, goop, Bombas and Davines.
Lea Michele rocks a chic brown dress while arriving for Variety’s 2023 Power of Women held at The Grill on Tuesday (April 4) in New York City.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Pearls of wisdom and displays of affection were shared widely on Tuesday afternoon when honorees Judy Blume, Natasha Lyonne, Rosie Perez, Kelly Ripa and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez took the stage at Variety‘s Power of Women New York luncheon, presented by Lifetime, at midtown restaurant The Grill. While all five women touched on the key lessons they’ve learned in life and the importance of those who teach them during the luncheon, hosted by “Saturday Night Live’s” Ego Nwodim, it was iconic YA author Blume who made much of her speech a tribute to public educators and librarians who are trying to protect students’ rights amid increased government scrutiny and censorship in public education.
Kelly Ripa is learning from the younger generation. On Tuesday, the host spoke with ET at 's 2023 Power of Women event in New York City, and shared what she most admires about her and Mark Consuelos' 21-year-old daughter, Lola Consuelos. «I am the most impressed with her ability to really speak about what she needs when she needs it,» Ripa tells ET. «She unapologetically does that.
Angelique Jackson When actor and singer Michaela Jaé Rodriguez landed her big break in 2017, starring as Blanca Evangelista in FX’s “Pose,” it was a rare opportunity for a trans performer to take on a leading role and the type of authentic representation the LGBTQ community continues to fight for in mainstream media. As the show ended its groundbreaking three-season run in 2021, Rodriguez made history as the first transgender performer to win a Golden Globe award and the first to be nominated for an Emmy in a lead category. And the Variety Power of Women honoree hasn’t stopped smashing glass ceilings since. Previously billed as MJ, the entertainer now goes by her full name, Michaela Jaé. She currently stars opposite Maya Rudolph in the Apple TV+ comedy “Loot,” plus she’s stepping behind the scenes to produce movies and hard at work on her long-awaited debut album. With celebrity came the responsibility to advocate for her fellow trans people, and with each new endeavor, Rodriguez’s platform to speak out has grown larger.
Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent “Support is what all women in every industry could always use more of — and will seldom ask for,” Kelly Ripa said, as she took the stage at Variety‘s Power of Women: New York event on Tuesday afternoon. “Offer support to someone who needs it. Encourage others to do the same. Sometimes just being asked is enough.” Ripa’s advice was part of her stirring speech at Variety‘s annual luncheon where she was one of five Power of Women honorees, along with Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Rosie Perez, Natasha Lyonne and Judy Blume. “Don’t ever be afraid to advocate for yourself. Don’t ever be afraid to advocate for others,” Ripa continued. “Knowing that a person or group of people have your back can be the most powerful thing in the world.”
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Natasha Lyonne is enjoying something of a career renaissance, and she’s attributing the undeniable success to her female friendships. As she took the stage at Variety‘s annual Power of Women event — on her birthday, no less — she toasted to her “community of women,” among them Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, who have cheered on each other’s rise in Hollywood. “It’s pretty eccentric to see how much we grow up together in this business and how meaningful it is to stick together along that ride,” she said on Tuesday afternoon at midtown Manhattan’s The Grill. Lyonne joked that she and her “dear pal” Rudolph started the production company Animal Pictures to “ensure we’d have time to hang out with each other,” and that she co-created “Russian Doll” as an excuse to “get existential with my friend and co-creator Amy Poehler.”
Tatiana Siegel When it comes to activism, Rosie Perez isn’t one to merely lob a tweet. She was arrested for disorderly conduct in 2000 while protesting the U.S. Navy’s deadly air bomb training off the coast of Puerto Rico. And the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actress, whose mother died of AIDS, served on President Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, beginning in 2010. On Tuesday, she put the spotlight on first responders at Variety‘s Power of Women luncheon, presented by Lifetime, in New York City. The “White Men Can’t Jump” actor highlighted the Heart 9/11 charity organization, which was founded in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attack that crippled Perez’s hometown, New York City.
Angelique Jackson Earlier this month, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was honored by the Human Rights Campaign with the Equality Award for her work advocating for the LGBTQ community. Accepting the award at the JW Marriott in Downtown Los Angeles, Rodriguez delivered a rousing speech addressing the onslaught of more than 400 anti-queer bills that have been introduced across the country, “I remember growing up in Jackson, New Jersey, and feeling free,” Rodriguez told the crowd at the HRC Los Angeles dinner on March 25. “When I was four years old, I had no knowledge of the restrictions that society wanted to place on my body or on my existence. My light. The boxes they wanted to fit me and the standards they wanted me to uphold. I had full autonomy to be just me.”
Natasha Lyonne is getting candid.
Author Judy Blume says she worries about intolerance in the US, following the removal in schools of some of her novels.
Natasha Lyonne if she’s irritable today. She just quit smoking, which is no small feat for someone who’s so synonymous with the habit that there’s an Instagram account dedicated to the coolness of her taking a drag. “I’ve been putting it off for so long,” she tells me, pointing to the small Nicorette pack on the coffee table in her East Village apartment. “I’m naturally wired for self-destructive crutches. I fucking love a vice.” Though she admits there are “immense” consequences of raging nicotine withdrawal, the health benefits far outweigh the discomfort (at least, that’s what she’s telling herself).
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez is not only “a boss” onscreen while portraying Sofia in “Loot” but offscreen as well.
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez doesn’t take too much notice of J.K. Rowling’s controversial comments about the transgender community.
Selome Hailu As one of the most widely banned authors in American history, Judy Blume has some opinions on censorship. In an interview for the cover of Variety‘s Power of Women issue, the legendary author of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” spoke about her own experiences being censored and the recent Roald Dahl controversy, wherein Puffin Books came under fire for publishing “updated” editions of Dahl’s books including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach.” “What do I think about rewriting the Roald Dahl books?” Blume scoffed. “I think if Roald Dahl was around, you would be hearing what he thinks about that. Whatever he is, whatever he’s accused of being, there’s a lot of truth there. But the books are the books. Kids still love the books, and they love them the way he wrote them. So I don’t believe in that.”
now-viral photo featuring more than 50 prominent Black stars, including Tracee Ellis Ross, Michael B. Jordan, Laverne Cox and fellow Newark, New Jersey native Queen Latifah. “She’s somebody who lifted me up when I never thought anyone would,” Rodriguez says with pride.
Prologue At the start of the 1950s, in the suburbs of Elizabeth, N.J., a nearly teenage Judy Blume found herself at odds with the rhythms of her body. She hadn’t inherited her Aunt Gert’s large breasts. (“My mother worried terribly that I would take after my father’s sister, who had to have bras made to fit her,” says Judy, now 85. “I always say she worried them right off me!”) And she hadn’t yet started her period. (“I wanted it so desperately. But when I finally got it, I couldn’t tell anybody, because I had told them I had gotten it in the sixth grade!”)
Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent Kelly Ripa first appeared on morning TV when she was a soap star on “All My Children.” At that time, she was being booked as a guest on “Live With Regis & Kathie Lee” by a young executive producer, Michael Gelman, who eventually helped cast her in a lead role, replacing Kathie Lee Gifford in 2001 to co-host with Regis Philbin. More than 22 years later, Ripa and Gelman are still working together every day on “Live!” which has continued on as one of the greatest successes in television history, currently reigning as the top daytime talk show in syndication. “She had that ‘wow factor’ as a guest,” Gelman tells Variety, reminiscing on when he first met a 20-something Ripa in the ’90s.
A rocky road to success. Kelly Ripa is one of the leading daytime television hosts — but getting to that point wasn’t always easy.
Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent When Ryan Seacrest announced he’d be leaving “Live! With Kelly and Ryan,” at least three people were very concerned: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ children. Ripa and Consuelos’ two adult sons and daughter have grown up in front of America. They’ve also grown up with Seacrest, who Ripa jokes is known as “Uncle Cool” in their household. Seacrest and Ripa have shared six years together as co-hosts on their top-rated show, but they’re relationship started long before that. The duo are such close friends that Seacrest has attended graduation ceremonies for the Ripa-Consuelos kids, and he regularly texts Consuelos for advice on everything from fashion to investing. In fact, Seacrest says he would have never considered moving across the country for “Live!” had it not been for Ripa.
EXCLUSIVE: Kaelyn Hutchins has joined Silver Lining Entertainment as a Manager, the company announced on Monday.