The countdown has begun! With the WE Day broadcast set to air on CBS August 4th, we’re ticking down the seconds until five-time WE Day speaker Selena Gomez takes the stage to host the television special for a second time.
In anticipation of the upcoming broadcast, we dug through the WE archives to pull one of Selena’s most-loved WE Day speeches.
It was 2014, buzz from The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex was still in the air a year after its premiere, and her first compilation album, For You, was in preparation for a winter release. That spring Selena—dressed in a red pants suit—took the WE Day stage in Los Angeles to share her story, and by doing so, encouraged her captive audience to try and make the world just a little bit better.
Below, the 10 moments from Selena’s speech that moved us.
1. When she told an arena full of kids she wanted to be real and honest with them, not paparazzi.
2. When she told us where she came from. She shared the story of her mother working four jobs to keep the family afloat, and how her mom helped her achieve her dreams.
3. When we learned that a casting director once told her she couldn’t carry a show, and that instead of being discouraged, she thought of how her mom said to trust herself.
4. When she voiced how inspired she was by the young people who had earned their way to WE Day.
5. When she was real about the pressure she was under, “you gotta be sexy, you gotta be cute, you gotta be nice, you gotta be all these things,” before opening up about how she found her own way forward.
6. When she got really excited and pumped up WE like the movement was a sports team.
7. When she gave us a pep talk and encouraged us to keep going.
8. When she told us what she’s been proudest of in her life.
9. When she shared her hopes and dreams.
10. And when she told the crowd of young people—each one making a difference in their own way—to be proud of themselves.