Across the globe, women’s freedom is under attack. In the past year, as highlighted in the most recent UN Women’s Gender Snapshot Report, access to education, equal pay, financial independence, and religious choice were still denied to most women around the world. To inspire, embolden, give a voice to those who have none, in the spirit of deep sisterhood we are showcasing the powerful voices gathered by Pomellato to celebrate International Women’s Day, in the sixth edition of #PomellatoForWomen.
Sabina Belli, CEO of Pomellato.
This project, proudly stewarded by Pomellato CEO Sabina Belli, gathers outstanding personalities for powerful testimonials every year. The women of the 2023 edition are: Jane Fonda, award-winning actress, feminist, environmental activist, and the project’s godmother since its first edition; Paola Egonu, Italian volleyball player and voice for diversity and LGBTQIA+ rights; international movie star and entrepreneur Joey King; and Nasim Eshqi, Iranian professional climber, political refugee, and women’s rights activist.
Each talked about her journey, what freedom means to her, and the daily challenges she faces. And they each spoke on the concept of freedom.
Freedom Is Female, Freedom Is Plural
Since its inception, Jane Fonda has served as #PomellatoForWomen’s godmother. A paladin of freedom through and through, she has long been an activist for women, our planet, and humanity at large. Fonda fights on the front lines of social change and champions the importance of acknowledging the climate crisis. She explored the topic in her recently published book What Can I Do?, chronicling her journey of awareness to becoming a senior activist for environmental rights.
“We tend to take freedom for granted, but it’s also very complicated. When I was born, there were only just a little over 2 billion people on the entire planet. We have 8 billion now–8 billion people!–but the world doesn’t get bigger, nor do its resources. We have to think about freedom in a new way. We can’t just do whatever we want, anytime we want, to whoever we want. For freedom to be meaningful, we have to live with the awareness that there’s a lot of other people sharing this planet with us. It’s complicated, freedom. It’s worth fighting for.”
Paola Egonu is not just a star of Italian and international volleyball who can spike the ball at 70 miles an hour, she’s also an increasingly louder voice against racism and in defense of the LGBTQIA+ community. A member of the latter, she reminds the world that things are not always easy, not even for the most accomplished. Each day, she remembers the freedom to express herself is a privilege she and her family sacrificed much to achieve. To Egonu, freedom is like an all-important chance to seize victory.
“Freedom, for me, is accepting my own feelings. I associate freedom with how I feel when I am on the court, when I’m playing and doing what I love. Because of the freedom I have, I could accomplish my dreams and become the person I am. The feeling I have when I’m playing volleyball is that I’m always protected by my team. I have learned how strong women can be when we are together and united.”
Joey King is among the most promising performers and young producers in film today. Selected as a notable up-and-comer in the entertainment industry on a major publication’s awards list, King is one of the youngest producers in the field, a testament to her extraordinary entrepreneurial skills. And since the start of her career, she’s stood up for the challenges young women face in the male-led field of filmmaking. Like many Gen-Zers, she is aware that her freedom is owed in part to the fights of previous generations, and a privilege never to be taken for granted. Now she’s free to blaze her own trail.
“I associate freedom with happiness, and freedom to do what I love, to be as loud as I want, dance as wildly as I want. But I also associate it with freedom to feel not so great, too. I think that we are very much tied to our devices, which keep us eternally connected. If anything, we could all work on being a little bit more present with each other in real life. That would give us a bit of our freedom back.”
When she started climbing mountains, Nasim Eshqi sought to follow the paths opened by others, to find her own, and to create a new path for all women. The Iran-born athlete’s dedication to women’s rights and bravery to be outspoken forced her to flee her country, and carry her activism abroad. Over the course of her unique career—she is the first and so far only Iranian woman in professional free climbing—Eshqi has pioneered new climbing paths in Iran, Turkey, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Georgia, India, and all over Europe. Now she is dedicated to opening new paths to freedom and emancipation for all women. Her climbing itself is an expression of the freedom she envisions for her Iranian sisters.
“For me, the biggest expression of freedom is to open my own path in the mountains. I always felt my freedom was constrained. I couldn’t choose what I wanted to wear, I couldn’t choose if I wanted to be religious or not, I couldn’t say what I wanted to say. Lack of freedom in my life pushed me toward nature and the mountains. With climbing I felt freedom in my life. Being who I am now: That’s freedom to me.”
Sabina Belli, CEO of the Pomellato Group, created the Pomellato For Women platform to listen to, inspire, and give a voice to women, all while raising awareness, and promoting and defending inclusivity. It reflects the spirit of the Milan-based brand, born to subvert the rules of goldsmithing by producing versatile, hand-crafted, and iconic jewelry for independent women.
The female voices of #PomellatoForWomen speak for equality and sisterhood. The powerful 2018 video focused on the solidarity of women; the 2019 project underscored how we are all part of a global community. In 2020, the initiative highlighted the need to promote inclusiveness and tolerance. The 2021 video paid homage to the resilience of women; in 2022 the group reminded women to value their own inner worth. This year, the team crafted a hymn to freedom. And in that song, the 2023 protagonists sing aloud with Belli on International Women’s Day: Women can only achieve true freedom if they stick together.
#PomellatoForWomen makes a concrete impact, too. The brand has launched a charity effort helping FreeFrom—a Kering Foundation-partnered organization—provide financial support to female survivors of domestic abuse, standing by their side on the path back to freedom.