Pharrell Williams Named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador

Pharrell Williams appeared on a new stage on Wednesday night: The main conference room at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters, where some 800 students gathered to catch a glimpse of the music superstar, and catch a screening of “Piece by Piece,” a biopic about him told via Lego animation.

It was a warmup to his official designation as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Arts Education and Entrepreneurship.

“I never dreamed in 51 years that I would be standing at a podium like this, in a building like this,” he told the audience, seated at delegate desks.

Wearing a green cap, a red Louis Vuitton sweatshirt, flared jeans and yellow boots, Williams lamented that “we are at a crisis as a species,” humanity more divided than ever.

“I’m betting on the youth. I’m betting on the kids. I’m betting on all the people who’ve been marginalized for so long, generationally, to stand up, band together and realize that we’re so much stronger when we pull together,” he said. “It’s never too late to start thinking about what your dream is, because your dream can pull you out of a very tough situation…. When you dare to dream, I promise you can do it. Just do it piece by piece.”

Williams then repaired to a ballroom on the seventh floor of the vast building, where witnesses for the designation ceremony included Tiffany executive Alexandre Arnault, musician Jean-Michel Jarre, art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin and champion fencer Enzo Lefort, who is making a documentary probing why his tiny homeland of French Guiana has produced so many champions in his chosen sport.

Audrey Azoulay, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, lauded Williams’ multi-faceted creativity, which spans “many art forms,” which includes fashion in his role as artistic director of men’s collections at Vuitton.

Being a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO “goes beyond diplomacy” and involves supporting and promoting its missions, which include advancing education and health care, safeguarding cultural heritage, and disseminating values of universality and diversity.

She noted Williams is the first American citizen to be named a goodwill ambassador since the United States returned to UNESCO last year. Other ambassadors in the cultrual space include jazz musician Herbie Hancock, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, actress Rossy de Palma and Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase.

Donning a black leather blazer with white piping for his acceptance speech, Williams spoke about his journey from a marginalized upbringing in Virginia to global renown in music, fashion, beauty and philanthropy.

“So much of the blessings in my life I credit to hard work, community and collaboration, all the pillars I think about when I reflect on really what UNESCO’s mission and vision is,” he said.

“There are many voices and devices that prey on negativity and exacerbating our differences. They use it to divide us and to scare us,” he continued. “But spending time in so many different places, cultures, cities, countries, I’ve seen firsthand how much we’re all connected and intertwined.”

As a UNESCO ambassador, “I really hope to deepen that sense of unity and togetherness,” Williams said. “My goal is to promote the kind of education that helps even the odds for marginalized kids like myself, and adults by closing the opportunity path. At the core of everything that I do is the belief that opportunity should not be determined by the circumstances of where you come from.”

Courtney O’Donnell, U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, lauded Williams’ message that “we need to harness the potential of everyone to light our path forward. Your decades of work to close opportunity and resource gaps in education, science and entrepreneurship are critical to this path and also aligned with the core values that drive us engagement here.”

Williams concluded: “We need more people with good intentions to have access to money and resources so they can put more good out into the world. It’s not going to happen any other way, and we love charities, but we need to make businesses out of making people’s lives better. That’s just my thought.”

Last June, Williams paraded Vuitton’s spring 2025 menswear collection at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, billing the show as an “homage to mankind.”