It was 10:30 p.m. at the restaurant Harlow on East 56th Street, and Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, was making her way to her dinner table. “There she is, there she is, there she is,” Ms. Power said, pointing toward Robin Roberts. “I haven’t had meaningful contact with her in 25 years.”
Ms. Power and Ms. Roberts were both honorees at Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year gala on Monday night. In the summer of 1989, Ms. Power was an 18-year-old intern at a CBS affiliate in Atlanta where Ms. Roberts was a sports broadcaster. At the time, Ms. Power said, she was a “crazy redhead sports junkie” who was determined to become a sportscaster before she got some advice from Ms. Roberts, the future ABC anchor. “She encouraged me to branch out and live a little, and maybe not make up my mind,” Ms. Power said. Really? “I remember her very well,” Ms. Roberts said, wearing a Gucci dress and enormous Alaïa heels. “And I do remember saying, ‘Get the heck out of here, you’re wasting your time, you need to be doing something else.’ ” She added, “I knew she had it, but I didn’t know she’d be working for the president of the United States.”
These reunions, and the new relationships that were forged on Monday, are part of what this event is all about: bringing together female leaders, whether in fashion or policy, comedy or philanthropy. Earlier in the night, at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall, nine women (including Chelsea Clinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Mindy Kaling, Laverne Cox and Sarah Burton) and a group of girls were honored. The band Haim performed. “This is my first night out as a mother,” Ms. Clinton said during her acceptance speech, six weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Charlotte. “I had started to somewhat wonder if I would ever wear a fancy dress or high-heeled shoes again. Or have adult conversations.” A grinning Hillary Rodham Clinton sat a few rows deep.
Ms. Power addressed the young women sitting in the upper tier, who were joyously shrieking throughout the night, and said that no matter how “together and confident” all the honorees seemed on stage, they all had anxiety and doubts, too. “One of my favorite expressions is: ‘Don’t ever compare your insides to their outsides,’ ” she said. The comedian Amy Schumer took the stage next and said, “If you looked inside me, you would see a U.T.I. right now,” referring to a urinary tract infection.
After the 2-hour-15-minute program ended, distinguished guests including Stephen Colbert, Bruce Willis and Katie Couric made their way to dinner. Ms. Nyong’o finished her campanelle pasta around midnight and was ready to receive well-wishers. “It was an emotional evening,” she said. “It was overwhelming to be one of them and to think that I was one in a number of ”
A redhead sprung up next to her. “Sorry for interrupting,” Ms. Power said to Ms. Nyong’o. “You’re amazing. I’m Samantha. Good to meet you.”
