The Duchess of Sussex has lifted the lid on balancing her busy work schedule alongside raising her two young children, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, who she shares with Prince Harry. Stepping out in D.C. on October 14, Meghan took center stage as she attended the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in D.C, alongside Alyson Shontell, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer for Fortune. As ever, she looked incredible, dressed in a chic white Gabriela Hearst blouse tucked into a Brochu Walker pencil skirt, teamed with her custom-made Dior heels, which had been made for her son Archie's christening back in 2019.
The event - which was attended by HELLO!'s US Royal Correspondent, Alexandra Hurtado, which saw Meghan open up balancing her time wisely between parenthood and her multiple businesses, which include her brand, As Ever, which she launched earlier in 2025. She also has her own Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, and podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. "I think you have to work as a team, you're only as solid as the rest of the people around you," she said. "And also, I want the work-life balance, if such a thing exists. I'm still going to go and chaperone the First Grade field trip and run back and try and finish the meetings."
During the discussion, Meghan also spoke about her decision to turn off the comments on social media. "There are certain things that I have done, just for my own self preservation, but also that I've applied to the brand and for the people that are incredibly supportive," she began. "I know the question can be around naysayers, but if you really see the groundswell of support that surrounds the brand and me, that's what I feel the most, and that's what I appreciate. But by design, I also recognize that a lot of those people aren't going to my page to see negativity, and so not just protecting myself or the people that work with me, but also the supporters. So I don't have the comment section on."
Meghan added: "That's a choice, and yet, part of that challenge that I was trying to solve. But how do I build a community? That is so key to this brand and it's so key to how I like to show up in the world. How do we actually connect, if you can't have comments and exchange?"
Meghan and her social media team found a clever way around this, that has added a more personable touch to her feed too. "So my social media manager would send me screen grabs of different things that people were posting in their UGC. And I said, 'Okay, what am I going to do here?'
"And they said I can do a text overlay and respond. So in the same way I would on my own camera roll at home, I'll zoom in, I can scribble a little note and send it to a friend, I've just started this construct where I will start writing in my handwriting, a note to users who put up content. So I said, let's find small and creative ways to engage the community and let them know that I'm listening, that I really see and appreciate their feedback. So I think a lot of it is just designing what's best for you while growing the business with an intentional and authentic point of view."
When it comes to financial independence, the Duchess also had a lot to say. "Financial independence is what gives you the freedom of choice, and I think in this day and age, we all need to be able to have our autonomy, there is a huge element of that financial diversity for that reason that I spend a lot of time on, especially for young girls and their empowerment... as women we support each other."