WOMEN+POWER 2023: Sheryl Sandberg
- Polo Lifestyles 2020
- Jul 11, 2023
- 2 min read
Sheryl Sandberg opened her next chapter as a full-time philanthropist with a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union to fight state abortion bans across the country.
Sandberg, who officially left her position as Facebook’s parent company Meta’s chief operating officer after 14 years, donated $3 million to the ACLU Ruth Bader Ginsburg Liberty Center. The ACLU plans to use the funds to support candidates and ballot measures for abortion rights, as well as defending pregnant women’s rights in state courts and legislatures over the next three years.
Sandberg told The Associated Press in an interview that it’s “unthinkable” that her three daughters have fewer rights over “their own health care, their own bodies, their own destinies” than she did. She wanted to immediately start working to change that.
“As I’m leaving Meta and looking at the next phase of my life and what I want to do and dedicate myself to, this is an issue that I think is absolutely fundamental to who we are as women who we are as a society,” Sandberg said. “The time is now. These state elections are now. And the next cycle is just two years away.”
Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director, said Sandberg’s donation is the largest ever given to the ACLU’s political arm for abortion rights. The funds will help support a shift in the organization’s abortion rights strategy back to state legislatures following the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that found there is no constitutional right to an abortion.
“It will be decades before we can clean up this mess through litigation,” he said. “We’ll get back there. We will re-establish a fundamental right to an abortion at the federal level. There will be another case that overturns Dobbs. But that will take us decades.”
Sandberg partnered with the ACLU because she believes fighting for reproductive rights requires a political component following the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision. The political donation was made by Sandberg personally and did not come from the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, which she says will remain the center of her philanthropic work. Political donations are not tax-deductible.
Watches with sentimental value, no matter the brand, often mean the most. Schwartz's most sentimental piece might be this Hamilton Jazzmaster – a college graduation gift (he went to Cal) from his father and uncle. This is also his gateway watch – the one that opened the door for him to this hobby link we all love. These days, he uses it as his dress watch for the rare link occasions he might need to pop on link a suit or tuxedo.
The so-called "Tuscan" dial features a hand-hammered link finish and is outfitted with a rich blue galvanized tone. link It's almost as if you took the Royal Oak's traditional tapissiere decoration link and shattered it into a million pieces before dumping the remains into a vat of bright blue dye. There's nothing quite like it. From the intricate dimples caused by the hand hammering process to the bold blue hue, it strikes a different tone than all the other Royal Oaks I've seen over the years.
Importantly, the exhibition will be free to the public too, so we expect it to be quite the event. It will be open seven days per week and we'd expect long lines to get in link (there were in New York). There will link even be two special link Sundays designated as family days, with special events meant to get your kids as excited about watches as you are.
While I think I like the conceptual approach behind the even-more-limited Santos-Dumont link "La Demoiselle" that was also released today more than any one of these watches, I like the way that they all play together to illustrate a story. I also like that these three pieces are the large link size instead of the extra-large. I think that will make them a better fit for more people and emphasizes the dual dressy/sporty nature of the Santos-Dumont. You really can't go wrong link with any of the four, though.
The sales continue next month in Hong Kong (Mar. 10-24), and then on to New York City (Apr. 13-27), to complete the "Icon of Time" auction trilogy. Things wrap link up in Genta's hometown of Geneva in May 2022, during Sotheby's biannual link Important Watches auction, when Genta's personal Royal Oak hits the block, with link an estimate of $300,000 - $500,000.