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By H. Alan Scott
Senior Editor
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Covering entertainment means that on any given weeknight, you might end up in a room with some of the most powerful women in Hollywood. That was the scene Wednesday night at Variety's annual Power of Women event in Beverly Hills, which honored Sharon Stone, Melissa McCarthy and Jennifer Hudson, among others.
Picture this. You're in a ballroom at the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel, seated at a table with the evening's host, comedian Iliza Shlesinger. Stone is sitting right behind you. Then someone makes a beautiful noise into a microphone. You look around and realize it came from Hudson herself, warming up the room before her rendition of "I Will Always Love You," a tribute to the late Dolly Parton. Just a regular Wednesday in Hollywood.
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The event, presented by Lifetime, celebrated women leading the entertainment industry for their work and for the causes they champion. Every honoree was part of Variety's annual Women's Impact Report.
Pearlena Igbokwe, who oversees NBCUniversal Television Studios, NBC Entertainment and Peacock Scripted, spotlighted A Better Chance, an organization that gives high-achieving students of color access to a better education. For her, the cause is personal.
"[A Better Chance] set me up for an Ivy League education, transforming the trajectory of my life and that of my entire family," Igbokwe said. "So yes, my origin story started with hard work, but someone had to give me an opportunity. No one achieves anything alone."
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Summer House star Paige DeSorbo was honored for bravely opening up about a past abusive relationship on her podcast, Giggly Squad. She used her moment to champion the Purina Purple Leash Project, a partnership with RedRover that helps domestic abuse survivors escape and expands the number of pet-friendly shelters.
"[Pets] don't need us to explain what we're going through," DeSorbo said. "They just stay. They give us a sense of safety and remind us that we are loved, even when we don't feel our strongest. And that's why the Purple Leash Project means so much to me."
Then it was Hudson's turn, with both her and The Jennifer Hudson Show taking home honors. She tied her talk show's mission to the work of her Jennifer Hudson Foundation, and then she got to the point of the whole night.
"Our mission was always to highlight and accentuate the positive, and that is what we strive to do at The Jennifer Hudson Show each and every day," Hudson told the crowd. "That brings me to power. Power is an interesting idea. I think we've been taught to shy away from embracing power. We are told to be strong, never told to be powerful. But power can be good, and in the right hands, power can change the world for the better. And what better hands than those of a woman?"
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McCarthy spotlighted the Joyful Heart Foundation, the organization Mariska Hargitay founded to support survivors of sexual abuse and assault.
"I am humbled to support the Joyful Heart Foundation," McCarthy said. "And I am honored to be a part of this room tonight. And I hope that we all can leave here inspired to roll up our sleeves and make a difference."
Issa Rae, named Variety's Entertainment Entrepreneur of the Year, talked about using her power to lift up the people in her orbit.
"I can decide who I'm around for the most part, who I work with, who I champion, who I invest in, whose stories I help tell, who I platform, who I respond to," Rae said. "I can use the power I do have to pour into my little community to make sure whatever success I'm lucky enough to have doesn't stop with me. And even when I'm tired, pissed off or deeply uninspired by what's happening around me, I can honestly say that nothing can stop me from trying to figure out where I can be useful, because as discouraged as I may get, I'm never going to stop trying."
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And then there was Sharon Stone. Spotlighting the American Civil Liberties Union, she brought the house down with a speech about her career and everything she's learned along the way, starting with a piece of hard-won advice that had the room howling.
"You can f*** your way to the middle. You have to claw your way to the top," she said.
Stone said she has "gone the distance from being a sex symbol" and did it "by keeping both of these tired feet that hurt from wearing four-inch heels on poured concrete floors."
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"I kept them firmly planted on terra firma because there is no gray in the red, white and blue," she continued. "So the power that I feel in the power of women, I get because I am standing in the middle of you, and I do not stand alone when I stand here."
Hollywood never stops changing, but some nights stick. Between Hudson's voice, Stone's candor and the causes these women put center stage, this one will be talked about for a long time.
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