If you ask Simone Ashley what it was like to work on the set of “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” she’ll tell you she felt like a sponge.
“Every single day I was soaking something up,” she said, in conversation with WWD ahead of the May 1 premiere. “To be in the company of incredible women like Emily [Blunt], Anne [Hathaway], Meryl [Streep] and Aline Brosh McKenna, our writer and one of the producers, and all the women behind this movie, every day I was learning something, whether it would be just observing how they held themselves on set, how they worked through their craft, what they believe in, what they stand for and the kind of message they want to give out to the world.”
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It’s this kind of female-empowered ecosystem that invigorates and inspires Ashley, within the industry and beyond. “I think all of us, especially as women, you’re always going to experience different challenges in personal life or in your work life. It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it. And I’d like to think that challenges that come my way, I really try to see them as a lesson and how to grow from that,” she continued.
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As a long-standing L’Oréal Paris ambassador, Ashley is parroting the same sentiment in its new Missed Opportunities campaign, which spotlights the ways in which street harassment impacts women daily. In honor of Anti-Street Harassment Week, the brand is encouraging its consumers, men and women, to take part in a Stand Up training program — a 10-minute video on “the Right To Be’ 5Ds methodology” designed to empower bystander intervention.
“On a personal level, I think we have all experienced some level of street harassment,” Ashley said. “And I’m just really proud to be part of something where we’re encouraging women to stand up for themselves and what to do in situations where they might observe street harassment or they personally feel like they’re a victim of it.”
Recognizing that strength and confidence go hand-in-hand with the ability to intervene, Ashley emphasized the importance of personal wellness and maintaining a healthy routine. Her regimen typically centers around exercise, sleep and hydration. But when she was filming “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in New York City, she also made it a point to prioritize spending time with friends who fill her cup. “A big part of my self care was just making sure I was having fun and being with my friends, exploring and experiencing New York,” she said.
The discipline she held during this time is similar to that of her character, Amari, who serves as the new first assistant to Miranda Priestley, played by Streep. “Everything else, I would say, me and that character can be quite different. But it was fun to play someone that held themselves in such a fabulous way, esthetically, and all those different kind of ways in the world of Runway,” Ashley teased.