Meghan Markle, Prince Harry choose Duke alum Suhani Jalota's charity for wedding donations

One Duke alum was especially excited for the Royal Wedding this weekend.

Earlier this year, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry chose the Myna Mahila Foundation as one of seven charities to receive donations in lieu of them receiving wedding gifts. Suhani Jalota, Trinity '16, founded Myna—which focuses on menstrual health in India—in June 2015 after joining the Melissa & Doug entrepreneurs program at Duke. 

Jalota recently wrote in Glamour that she met Markle at Glamour magazine’s 2016 College Women of the Year awards, where she was being honored alongside 10 other women.

"At the lunch, Meghan learned about my work, including that 50 percent of women in India were using unhygienic methods, like old rags and leaves, to manage their cycles," Jalota wrote in Glamour. "I didn’t know then that I'd struck a chord with Meghan—and that the selfie we took together would lead to so many life-changing events, including, yes, an upcoming royal wedding."

In January 2017, Markle—a United Nations Women advocate—visited the Myna Mahila Foundation and Jalota in Mumbai. Jalota wrote in Glamour that she was surprised by Markle's down-to-earth nature and in-depth knowledge of the challenges facing Indian women.

Jalota, who attended the Royal Wedding May 19, previously told The Chronicle that she concentrated her efforts on the female hygiene market because most poor Indian women could not access essential sanitary items.

“I started working more on community building and understanding what is it that really keeps women going,” she said. “If I really want to do more action-based and implementation-based things, then we want to work with these women to create something.”

After the wedding, Jalota told Glamour that "everyone really enjoyed" the event, and that she got to speak with the new Duchess of Sussex after the ceremony. 

"I got to speak to Meghan during the reception, when she and Prince Harry were meeting everybody one by one. Even after she has become the Duchess of Sussex, she hasn’t changed," Jalota said. "She’s still the same old Meghan I met in New York and after that in India. I gave her a hug, and I congratulated her and thanked her for this opportunity, and she thanked me for coming."


Likhitha Butchireddygari

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Class of 2019

Editor-in-chief 2017-18, 

Local and national news department head 2016-17

Born in Hyderabad, India, Likhitha Butchireddygari moved to Baltimore at a young age. She is pursuing a Program II major entitled "Digital Democracy and Data" about the future of the American democracy.

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