Oprah Winfrey to Join Lady Gaga for BTWF Launch

Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, announced today that Oprah Winfrey will be joining them at Harvard University for the official launch of the Born This Way Foundation (BTWF) on Wednesday, February 29th, 2012. Oprah will appear alongside Lady Gaga as she formally unveils BTWF before a crowd of policymakers, nonprofit organizations, foundation leaders, students, and youth at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Askwith Forum.

Lady Gaga also will be joined by several renowned guests including prolific author and speaker Deepak Chopra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School’s Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. The one-day event will be cohosted by BTWF, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The California Endowment. Highlights of the launch event will be featured in an upcoming episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter on OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK.

BTWF has partnered with the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and The Berkman Center at Harvard to explore the best ways to reach youth and create a new culture of kindness, bravery, acceptance, and empowerment. BTWF, a nonprofit charitable organization, will address issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development through research, education and advocacy. With a focus on digital mobilization to create positive change, BTWF will lead youth into a braver new society where each individual is accepted and loved as the person they were born to be.

Additional details concerning the Born This Way Foundation launch will be announced closer to the event date, February 29th, 2012. Please visit: www.BornThisWayFoundation.org to take the pledge and become part of the movement.

About The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur’s $85 million digital media and learning initiative aims to determine how digital media are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to education and other social institutions that must meet the needs of this and future generations. More information is at www.macfound.org/learning.

About The California Endowment To Empower Youth
The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment challenges the conventional wisdom that medical settings and individual choices are solely responsible for people’s health. The Endowment believes that health happens in neighborhoods, schools, and with prevention. And as such, the Endowment has embarked on a ten-year campaign to improve the health of young people residing in vulnerable, at-risk communities through stronger and innovative prevention approaches. For more information, visit The California Endowment’s homepage at www.calendow.org.

About Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. Founded in 1997, through a generous gift from Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman, the Center is home to an ever-growing community of faculty, fellows, staff, and affiliates working on projects that span the broad range of intersections between cyberspace, technology, and society. More information can be found at cyber.harvard.edu.

About the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Since its founding in 1920, the Harvard Graduate School of Education has been training leaders to transform education in the United States and around the globe. Today, our faculty, students, and alumni are studying and solving the most critical challenges facing education: student assessment, the achievement gap, and teacher effectiveness, to name just a few. Through the Ed School’s 13 master’s programs, two doctoral programs, and extensive executive education programs, the HGSE community is pushing the frontiers of education, and the effects of our entrepreneurship are improving the world. More information can be found at www.gse.harvard.edu.

About OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK
A joint venture between Harpo, Inc. and Discovery Communications, OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK is a multi-platform media company designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN debuted on January 1, 2011, in approximately 77 million homes on what was the Discovery Health Channel. The venture includes the award-winning digital platform, Oprah.com. For more information please visit www.oprah.com/own.

Media Contacts:
Amanda Silverman
42West
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(212)744-3683
Sarah Rothman
42West
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PLEASE NOTE: We expect heavy demand for tickets to this event. To enter a public raffle for tickets, “like” the Ed School’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/HarvardEducation) and wait for a post about the raffle. For more the most up-to-date information about the event, please visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ladygaga.