Harry and Meghan’s new strategist has revealed that she realised she was racist after marrying her black husband.
Genevieve Roth believes that all white people are ‘rife with internalised racism and unconscious bias’.
‘Race is an issue in our marriage because as a white woman of privilege, I have racist tendencies written in at a cellular level,’ the former Hilary Clinton aide wrote.
Roth is the founder of Invisible Hand, a ‘female-led diverse team’ based in New York which is advising the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell foundation.
Genevieve Roth and husband Jordan, the pair have a daughter together, Frankie
Roth with her husband and their daughter in an Instagram post. She has written extensively about the issue of ‘white privilege’ in her marriage
Invisible Hand will be working with the Duke and Duchess’s Archewell foundation on initiatives and campaigns
In article for Good Housekeeping last year she wrote about the notion of white privilege and her heightened understanding of it after marrying her husband, Jordan, with whom she shares a daughter, Frankie.
She cited an example of how she mentioned to her husband, while they were driving to look for holiday homes, that their licence plates were nearly expired.
Who is Genevieve Roth?
Genevieve Roth is the Founder and President of Invisible Hand
Alaskan-born Genevieve Roth is the Founder and President of Invisible Hand, a social impact and culture change agency.
More recently, the mother-of-one was made the Senior Strategic Advisor to Archewell, the organisation founded by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
She is the former Features Director of Marie Claire Australia and before that, held editorial positions at GQ and Esquire.
She left her job in magazines to serve as the director of creative engagement for the 2016 Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign.
The mother-of-one, whose husband is black, often speaks out about racism in America, and has written at length about the ‘racism in her own marriage’.
In an article for Primer, she wrote: ‘Race is an issue in our marriage because as a white woman of privilege, I have racist tendencies written in at a cellular level, and that can really gum up the works.’
And in an article for Good Housekeeping, Roth wrote about the notion of white privilege and her heightened understanding of it after marrying her husband, Jordan.
Roth also worked as the executive director of special projects at Glamour magazine, and the producer of the Glamour Women of the Year Awards.
In 2014, Roth helped launch The Girl Project, Glamour’s ‘global philanthropic initiative’ supporting girls’ education.
Roth describes herself as an ‘expert on the intersection of narrative change, women’s empowerment, and social justice.’
Her agency Invisible Hand has created campaigns for clients including Archewell, PBS, The Obama Foundation, The XQ Institute, and The Girl Effect.
A graduate of Emerson College and the Columbia Journalism School Publishing Course, Roth also worked with The White House and Let Girls Learn, a US government initiative launched by former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle.
She was a 2018 Shorenstein Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
‘He got so angry with me that I worried he would crash the car,’ Roth wrote.
Her husband, she said, then explained to her: ‘Do you realize that if a cop pulls us over for expired tags, I could be killed?’
Roth says she ‘had not realized.’
In another example she says Jordan mentioned, while driving along the same road, that this is the ‘same borough where Eric Garner was murdered.’
Garner, a black man, was killed in a chokehold during an arrest in New York in 2014.
Roth wrote: ‘I mean, I really had not realized.’
In another passage she said: ‘Or every single time we fight and I say, “When you start yelling, I stop listening,” without realizing that what I hear as a yell is just how they talk in his family, and that half the time I think I’m fighting with Jordan he isn’t even mad.’
She concluded the piece by saying that she had recently taken to posting about these occasions on Instagram to raise awareness of ‘ways in which my own bias and internalized racism had hurt our partnership.’
‘It is hard work. It is embarrassing and shameful, and every time I post, I fear that this latest confession could be the one that will expose me as irredeemable — too privileged to be deserving of the man I love, too far gone to be a suitable mother to my black daughter,’ Roth wrote.
Prince Harry has also spoken at length about the issue of ‘unconscious bias.’
He told GQ last year: ‘Unconscious bias… having the upbringing and the education that I had, I ad no idea it existed.” It took me many, many years to realise it [existed], especially then living a day or a week in my wife’s shoes.’
Archewell’s partnership with Alaskan-born Roth was announced this week.
A graduate of Emerson College and the Columbia Journalism School Publishing Course, Roth also worked with The White House and Let Girls Learn, a US government initiative launched by former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle.
She also worked as the director of creative engagement for the 2016 Clinton Presidential campaign.
A statement said Invisible Hand would be focusing on ‘strategic change through storytelling and community building in support of gender and racial equity’.
A spokesman for the Sussexes added: ‘They join a rapidly expanding team that’s deeply dedicated to advancing systemic cultural change and supporting compassionate communities across the world.’
This comes after Harry and Meghan’s right-hand woman in the US is set to leave from her role.
Catherine St Laurent was head-hunted by the couple from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to become their ‘chief of staff’ and executive director of Archewell, their new non-profit organisation, last April.
The couple called her an ‘incredible asset’ when they announced her appointment, adding: ‘We are excited to have her on our team.’
But yesterday it emerged that the Canadian-born mother-of-two’s fixed-term role is coming to an end.
There was no comment from her directly, but according to the New York Post, Miss St Laurent has already stepped down, although she will continue to work with Archewell in an ‘advisory’ role.
Genevieve Roth left her job in magazines to serve as the director of creative engagement for the 2016 Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign.
Numerous reports have suggested the Duchess is plotting a track to the White House – rumours which ramped up in the aftermath of her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Meghan’s friends have previously encouraged speculation about her political ambitions – describing her rise from modest beginnings as ‘the embodiment of the American dream’.
The Duke, 36, and Duchess of Sussex, 39, last year faced a backlash after weighing in on the US election – breaking with centuries-old tradition that calls for members of the Royal Family to remain politically neutral.
