"Coming from Haiti and living in Haiti really shaped me into who I am because we really didn't have a lot," the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star exclusively tells Parade. "But when I was little, I didn't realize I didn't have a lot. I think that my roots grounded me into who I've become in terms of wanting to give back [and] in terms of being so grateful to be where I am. It would be selfish not to give back, to not show my children that it's important to do something, to leave a mark that you've done a little bit in the world. I think if everybody does just a little bit, it will change the world."
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"We didn't see careers as platforms back in the day. Everybody was hustling, trying to do their thing," she tells Parade. "But for me, I always wanted to do something, whether it was raising my kids doing lemonade stands to help whenever something happened, whether it was [in] Haiti or everywhere. It was just more about, 'I’ve got to do something.'"
Garcelle Beauvais attends the Citadel Outlets Launch PINK SAVES Campaign in Partnership With Susan G. Komen Los Angeles.Greg Doherty/Getty Images
"Sometimes it's donating money, and sometimes it's actually getting on the ground and doing something," she says. "So I started getting involved with different charities, like the March of Dimes, Step Up for Women's Network and [various work in] Haiti, all different types of things."
After multiple wildfires broke out across Los Angeles in early January, Beauvais hit the ground running with CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), an organization she's "really proud" to be involved in. The fires completely decimated the Altadena and Pacific Palisades communities, destroying over 18,000 homes, buildings and other structures while scorching over 55,000 acres overall. Tens of thousands of Southern California residents were displaced and at least 29 people died.
Garcelle BeauvaisCourtesy of Garcelle Beauvais
"I ended up going to the Dream Center in downtown [Los Angeles], where the donations were through the roof. I bought a car full of things myself. But when I got there, it paled in comparison to what they had," she recalls. "I went to one of the shelters in Pasadena, and that was heartbreaking because [there were] rooms full of people sleeping on cots, and you're sleeping next to people that you don't know [whom] you've just met, and everybody is in a daze. It was hard to watch."
Beauvais' work isn't limited to putting in effort behind the scenes, though. The actress served as executive producer and star of Lifetime's Black Girl Missing, which follows a mother who enlists amateur internet sleuths to help find her missing daughter after authorities and the media write off her case and focus on a missing white girl instead. The film, which won an Astra Award and a Gracie Award, was inspired by the true stories of missing Black and Brown women.
"We can tell you about the Natalee Holloways, we can tell you about all these women. And I want to make sure people understand that I'm not saying that those women don't count," Beauvais declares. "If a Black or Brown person goes missing, we need the same attention that everybody else gets."
Garcelle BeauvaisCourtesy of Garcelle Beauvais
"Two of the women that I named were found," she says. "So that was incredible. And we didn't know that was going to happen."
"I just feel like it's my duty. I feel like we're losing humanity in a lot of ways. And I want to help," she says, later reflecting on what being a Changemaker truly means to her.
"A Changemaker is someone who is taking what they've been given and trying to do good with it," she tells Parade. "I think it's our responsibility as human beings to step up when needed. And I think that's what a Changemaker does."
Garcelle BeauvaisCourtesy of Garcelle Beauvais
"I think passion is the driving force, right? If you're just doing it just to do it, I don't think you'll stick with it. I think it's wanting to do something that you feel you can be of help with," she says. "I think that's the key to wanting to help: wanting to do something. I think that's what it takes. Passion and compassion."
As for what she'd say to her younger self as a little girl living in Haiti who will one day change the world, Beauvais gets emotional at the thought.
Part of that dream for Beauvais, she says, is continuing to advocate and do work on behalf of Haiti and its communities to get back to a place of people before politics.
Garcelle BeauvaisCourtesy of Garcelle Beauvais
"Haiti needs a voice," she continues. "And there are a lot of people out there doing work on behalf of Haiti. I know other things happen in other places and our attention sometimes goes away. But for me, I will try to bring it back to Haiti until we're in a really good place."
Related: Garcelle Beauvais Says 'It Means Everything' to Be the First Black Housewife on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
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