8 Inspiring Ways Reese Witherspoon Is Using Her Platform to Lift Women Up

As we've seen this award season, we can always count on Reese to be the biggest cheerleader in the room. During the Golden Globes this year, Reese was seen mouthing the words "I love you" to her Big Little Lies costar Nicole when she won the award for best performance by an actress in a limited series or TV movie. That same night, Reese also couldn't help but fangirl over Oprah while presenting her with the Cecil B. DeMille Award and thanking her for being an inspiration to women everywhere.

When Reese signed up as one of the producers on HBO's Big Little Lies, she didn't do it because she thought the show would be a hit, she did it because she was tired of being "the only woman on a set full of men." "For 25 years, I've been the only woman on set," she previously told The Hollywood Reporter. "We have to start seeing women how they actually are on film — we need to see real women's experience — whether that involves domestic violence, sexual assault, romance, infidelity, or divorce."

In addition to producing Big Little Lies, Reese also started her production company, Pacific Standard Films, so that more women could be featured in television and movies. "I was warned that on the crazy chance Pacific Standard would acquire any good scripts, we would never make it past our first few years in business because there just wasn't a market for buying female-driven material," Reese told Glamour. "But like Elle Woods, I do not like to be underestimated."

Reese is just one of the many women behind the movement, which aims to combat workplace sexual harassment and assault across industries. "There's moments that you have to evaluate whether silence is going to be your only option," Reese said during an appearance on CBS's Sunday Morning in January. "We have resources, but women who are workers in this country have nothing to gain in certain times by coming forward. But we want to help. It gives me strength to hopefully help other women."

After being named WSJ. Magazine's entertainment innovator of the year in 2017, Reese delivered a moving speech at the ceremony, outlining the issues women are facing today in the entertainment industry. "We've been dealing with some really ugly truth of sexism and sexual harassment, and it has been rampant for far longer than I have been an actress, and it's brought back a lot of painful memories for people," she said. "I love being an actor, but now it's become abundantly clear to me that I have a new mission and that's to do more for others in my industry."

If you follow Reese, then you're probably familiar with her weekly motivational quotes. With messages like, "The way you speak to yourself matters" and "How do you stop a determined woman? You can't," it's hard not to feel inspired.

Reese's clothing line donates a portion of its sales to Girls, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to inspiring and empowering young women. "When I started Draper James, it was so important for me to give back to women who are entrepreneurial," Reese said in the September 2015 issue of Women's Health. "Girls, Inc. has created incredible programs all over the US that empower women economically."

If you're friends with Reese, we can almost guarantee that you'll get a sweet Instagram message from her on your birthday. But Reese's shoutouts aren't your generic, boring messages, no. Reese's messages will not only make you feel special, but they will lift you up. Just take a look at the one she wrote for Zoë Kravitz back in December.

Reese created her Hello Sunshine book club to promote books mostly written by women and to encourage women to "be storytellers in all kinds of mediums." In fact, she had to fight hard to adapt Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Cheryl Strayed's Wild into film. "It took me three successful productions to be considered a real player in the producer game," Reese previously told Glamour. "I can tell that I'm considered a player now because of the respect I get from studio heads. They call me back quicker and give me thoughtful responses when I pitch ideas. It has been quite a shift for me."