Lindsey Vonn Shares Her Biggest Female Inspiration on International Women’s Day

The athlete wants to empower future generations in the same way that her mom once empowered her.

Lindsey Vonn.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

There’s no better day to reflect on what female empowerment means than today, International Women’s Day. So, of course, that’s just what Lindsey Vonn did. She took to Instagram earlier today to share a clip explaining just what the occasion means to her—and the biggest female inspiration in her life.

According to the former professional alpine skier, female empowerment “has a lot to do with education and showing women what they can do in their lives by example,” she explained in the reel.

Vonn didn’t just learn that through her own experience—though we have no doubt that was part of it. She learned it from her mom, who died from ALS in August 2022. “My mother I think was the perfect example to me of what could be possible with a positive mindset and the right attitude,” Vonn said of the way that her mom inspired her. Given the athlete’s success, we have no doubt that her mom really was a powerful and formative force for her.

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She doesn’t want that influence to end with her, either. “What I hope for the future is that we all continue to pass it down to the next generation of inspiring young women, empower them, show them what it means to be strong,” she said in the video.

Vonn is doing just that through her namesake foundation. The Lindsey Vonn Foundation is dedicated to “empowering underserved girls through camps, scholarships, and life-changing experiences,” according to the website. Through it, the Olympian hopes to pay her own experience and mentorship forward—and we have no doubt she will.