Pharrell Says We Need to 'Lift Women Up' in NYU Commencement Speech

Pharrell has been pretty involved with NYU for the last year or so, even teaching a masterclass at Tisch School of the Arts, that included both college students and high school kids from the Future Music Moguls program auditing in the room. His speech begins with a long thank you to teachers in general who he calls “the real influencers,” then veers off into several paragraphs celebrating women’s equality.

Speaking to you guys today has me charged up. As you find your ways to serve humanity, it gives me great comfort knowing this generation is the first that understands that we need to lift up our women. Imagine the possibilities when we remove imbalance from the ether. Imagine the possibilities when women are not held back. Your generation is unraveling deeply entrenched laws, principles and misguided values that have held women back for far too long and therefore, have held us all back. The world you will live in will be better for it.

This is the first generation that navigates the world with the security and confidence to treat women as equal. You are the first ever. Our country has never seen this before. It makes some people uncomfortable. But just imagine the possibilities.

Let’s imagine the possibilities.