Just a few months into her husband's presidency, First Lady Melania Trump's introduction to the American people has primarily been through memes. Her speech at the Republican National Convention, which seemed to lift multiple lines from Michelle Obama's own address at the Democratic National Convention years before, was a viral sensation, and video clips of her body language toward her husband made her a go-to gif.

Her role as First Lady is still being defined—when will she move to D.C. full-time, what issues will she choose to represent?—but she gave a hint of her future today, in an official appearance with the State Department. Together with the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, Trump presented 13 women with the International Women of Courage Award (IWOC).

The honorees included women like Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, an environmental activist in Vietnam, and Jannat Al Ghezi, the deputy director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. Trump addressed these accomplished women and the crowd with a nine-minute speech about finding courage in your own life, and why it's so important to highlight the accomplishments of women.

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"I urge you to not be afraid to fail, as failure will never have the power to define you as long as you learn from it. Let these women serve as daily inspiration as it is now up to each of you to remain vigilant against injustice in all its many forums," Trump said. "As you go forward, remember their journeys as you push ahead and strive to bring about the better community, a better country, and a better world in an ongoing fight of right over might."

Several times Trump stumbled on longer words and seemed to repeat lines; born in Slovenia, English is just one of several languages she speaks.

She ended the speech by hammering the importance of women's empowerment. "Together we must declare that the era of allowing brutality against women and children is over, while affirming that the time of empowering women around the world is now," Trump said. "For wherever women are diminished, the entire world is diminished with them."

She didn't mention her husband or his administration during her speech.

From: ELLE US
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Kaitlin Menza

Kaitlin Menza is a freelance features writer. She lives in New York. You can see more of her writing at kaitlinmenza.com