People of the year 2020: Selena Gomez

People magazine has finally announced their “2020 People of the Year” and it’s official — one of the winners is Selena Gomez. Along with our favorite ex-Disney bae, the other winners include Dr. Anthony Fauci, Regina King, and George Clooney.

These people have impacted the world in positive and memorable ways during a challenging year when we’ve truly needed it most. As King used her voice to encourage voters and support minority communities during the pandemic, Fauci made scientific leaps and bounds in science. Meanwhile, Clooney donated half a million dollars to the Equal Justice initiative after George Floyd’s death, and a million to COVID.

Selena Gomez is the youngest member on this list, but that doesn’t make her any less impressive. She’s starting important conversations that young people need to have, and we’re grateful for that. The singer’s chart-topper of an album Rare and her cooking show on Max (Selena + Chef) both were explosive creations that helped uplift us in the past year.

In fact, the purpose of Rare was to make her fans and others feel less lonely as they went through emotional life experiences — either relating to personal ordeals, COVID-19, or both. As Gomez puts it herself, “I want them to make it their own, and of course all I would want is for people to relate to it.”

But it was her spirit of inclusion via her beauty brand Rare Beauty that made her one of the notable contenders for this list. Rare Beauty set an ambitious goal of raising $100 million over the course of 10 years to help make mental health initiatives more accessible. This was motivated by her own struggle with bipolar disorder.

Selena isn’t just a singer — she’s an entrepreneur, activist, and actress. Along with bringing us joy through her album, she brings essential conversations with world leaders and people of influence.