USA Today’s Women of the Year list includes Michelle Obama, astronaut Nicole Mann and Goldie Hawn
USA TODAY Annual Women’s List of the Yearwhich celebrates women who have broken ground and changed the world, including former first lady Michelle Obama, astronaut Nicole Mann and actress Goldie Hawn, who told “CBS Mornings” she was Honored to be.
“I was very surprised, and at the same time, I’m standing with some really extraordinary and very strong women,” Hahn said Friday. “So that makes me really happy and I feel very honored.”
Other honorees on the list of dozens of women in 2023 include players on the U.S. women’s soccer team, who won a historic equal pay agreement, and Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Michelle Obama was on the list for her work as an advocate for equal education for girls, and astronaut Nicole Mann was honored for her accomplishments as the first indigenous woman in space.
Han, founder of the Goldie Hawn Foundation, was celebrated for her work focusing on children’s mental health. Twenty years ago, her foundation created the MindUP program, which helps children learn how to manage stress, regulate emotions and face challenges with resilience.
“What I learned (in 2003) was that 10- to 15-year-olds were already committing suicide and that really — it really hit me,” Hahn said. “With that, I made a decision, and that was that no child should do this.”
Hahn brought together neuroscientists, psychologists and other mental health experts to create a science-based mental health program for children that teaches about the brain and provides context about how emotions work. and how they can be managed.
“I decided, ‘Why don’t we do this?’ We did it, we tested it, we researched it, and it showed incredible … benefit to these kids,” Hahn said. “I decided at that point that I was just going to put the show on the road, and I did, and you know, it was a fearless process, but I decided that something had to happen. Our kids. Can’t grow like this.”
Since its founding in 2003, Hahn estimates that MindUP has served about seven million children worldwide.
Hahn said, “It’s probably one of the best, I think, scripts, you could say, that I’ve ever produced. I produce a lot of movies, but this might be the best. ”