Meghan Markle gave advice on how to deal with critics at her first public engagement since leaving the royal family

• Meghan Markle gave fans advice on how to deal with the critics at the virtual Girl Up Summit on Tuesday — her first public engagement since resigning from the royal family.
• "You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that's what it is — just noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder," the duchess said.
• She added: "Your gut will tell you what's right and what's wrong; what's fair and unfair. The hardest part — and it was the hardest part for me — is to chase your convictions with action."

The Duchess of Sussex gave advice on how to deal with critics and how to "push through the fear" at the Girl Up Leadership Summit on Tuesday.

Meghan Markle delivered the keynote speech during "Women in Leadership," the main segment on day two of the annual summit.

The virtual event saw almost 40,000 attendees between the ages of 13 and 22 across 172 countries. It also marked the duchess' first public event since she officially resigned from the royal family in March this year.

"Your generation is often referred to as digital natives, and you understand that our online world has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm," Markle said during her speech.

"We are not meant to be breaking each other down; we are meant to be building each other up. So use your voice both on and offline to do just that — build each other up, support each other."

Markle encouraged the women to use their own voices to "drown out the noise" and the critics they might face as they fight to make change.

"There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud," she said.

"You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that's what it is — just noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder."

You can watch the full segment here:

The duchess has received major criticism since she joined the royal family in 2018, and the British press has been called out for coverage that has been interpreted as discriminatory and racist.

In just a few examples, Markle has been subjected to headlines that suggested she was "fueling human rights abuses, drought, and murder" for eating avocados and that her mother's hometown was"(almost) straight outta Compton" and "gang-scarred."

Speaking from experience at the summit, Markle said the hardest thing for her to do was to "chase convictions with action."

"Look, sometimes it's not obvious what to do. Often, it's fear that paralyzes us and stops us from being brave and being bold," she said.

"But don't underestimate that you have some of the answers. Don't underestimate your ability to push through the fear. You have, rooted in your convictions, the ability to craft a world that you know is just and kind.

"Your gut will tell you what's right and what's wrong; what's fair and unfair. The hardest part — and it was the hardest part for me — is to chase your convictions with action."

"If you look at the breadth of the issues we're facing right now, it's easy to get overwhelmed, I understand. So be where you are in the moment. The growth and change you're pursuing might not feel like anything day-to-day, but when you look back, I promise you'll see it all adds up," the duchess added.

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