This summer, I will ride in the Markel Magnolia Cup at the Qatar Goodwood Festival presented by Visit Qatar. Making history as the first American ever to take the starting line at the Magnolia Cup. But I'm not doing it for the trophy. I'm doing it for what the race stands for.

I am riding in honor of the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, and their UK charity Educate A Child International (EACI) which is an organization that provides quality learning to children and women in communities affected by poverty and conflict. Since 2012, EAA has supported 101 projects across 57 countries and reached more than 18.5 million beneficiaries. At the heart of their work is a belief I share deeply: when a girl is given the chance to learn, she gains the power to shape her own future and to lift her family and community with her.

That belief isn't abstract to me. I have spent years as a donor and volunteer with Hearts of Gold, a grassroots nonprofit that has walked side by side with homeless mothers and their children since 1994. Single mothers represent 62% of NYC's homeless population, and Hearts of Gold empowers these families through tutoring, workforce development, and wraparound support, helping them become confident and self-sufficient as they transition out of shelters into permanent homes. What Hearts of Gold has shown me, again and again, is that education and access are the most powerful forces for breaking the cycle of poverty.

That is exactly the mission EAA is living out on a global scale and why I am so proud to carry their banner on July 30th.

My goal is to raise £100,000.

Your donation, whatever the amount, could help bring an out-of-school child back into education, fund skills training for a young woman trying to enter the work force, or help a girl to rebuild her future and her dreams in ways originally thought impossible. These are real lives, transformed by access to something so many of us take for granted.

On Thursday, July 30, I'll be on that starting line at Goodwood Racecourse, a place that I wouldn’t have imagined myself at, if you told me I was doing this a couple years ago. I've ridden before I could walk, but nothing like this. Over the past year I've been training hard, building strength and learning to ride racehorses at up to 40mph, all to earn my place in this race. Goodwood brings together everything I love: horses, cars, history, and a community that genuinely believes sport can serve something greater than itself. Competing there, for this cause, feels like everything in my life coming full circle. I hope to play a small part in something bigger than myself — working alongside my fellow riders toward a world where everyone has the freedom to learn, where gender and race don't determine someone's opportunities, and where we leave things a little better than we found them.

I would be so deeply grateful if you would join me on this journey. Whether you've known me for years or are hearing my story for the first time, I hope this race, and this cause moves you the way it has moved me.

Please donate if you can. Every pound counts, and every gift means opening a new door of opportunity to a child in need.