Priyanka Chopra Jonas spoke on the opening day of the International Government Communication Forum on Wednesday morning.
The actor, producer and activist, who began her career in Bollywood, spoke about how online influencers and celebrities can use social media for a good cause in a talk entitled Why Does the Screen Have so Much Impact on Public Opinion?.
"I enjoy using my socials a lot and sharing my experiences. There's so much power to social media. I've been an ambassador for Unicef for a while and we [social media influencers] become a means to an end," said Chopra Jonas.
She also spoke about how the "world is opening up to non-English language" entertainment, such as Hindi films:
On this, she talked about travelling to Jordan with Unicef. "I visited the refugees, and when I travel to places like that and when I write individual stories of children and families, there is so much media coverage that comes to that. It gives the story a life.
"We are a conduit for people who don’t have a voice. That’s where the responsibility of social media influencers come in."
She also visited Ethiopia in May 2019:
She also spoke about spreading the message of peace through social media, saying: “Public people have always been using their platform to speak about peace, and have been imploring governments to give it to us. What we [celebrities] have that is different from the public is a privileged platform," she said, adding: "But I’ve worked hard to be where I am."
Here she is speaking at Davos:
Chopra Jonas concluded her session at the forum by touching on diversity and equality in the entertainment industry. She said: “I was just someone who wanted to be the best at everything I was doing. When I first started working in India, my quest was for equality for women in the film industry because I felt women were often marginalised. So I chose roles that were main characters. And when I started working outside of India, I saw the dire need of diversity. I played Holi on [the] Jimmy Fallon [show] and people responded well saying: ‘Oh, my god, Holi sounds like a great festival.’”
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Read more:
[ 'Bunty Aur Babli 2' wraps up filming in Abu Dhabi ]
[ Review: Priyanka Chopra's latest film 'The Sky is Pink' tells an inspirational story ]
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