From hunting demons to fighting for gender equality: Audrey Nuna calls for greater investment in girls’ education at the United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, New York - Grammy-winning artist Audrey Nuna – known to many as the singing voice of Mira in the film 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' – used her first appearance at the United Nations to call for greater investment in education for girls. 

She also spoke about the importance of representation and female-driven storytelling. 

Ms. Nuna gave the remarks at an event hosted by Spotlight Initiative and Rise at the UN Headquarters in New York to mark the end of Women’s History Month. ‘Women Breaking Barriers’ convened women leaders and allies at the forefront of entertainment, science, media and business to highlight the impact of gender-based violence on the trajectories of women and girls across the globe. 

Speakers included UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, comedian Sandra Kwon, American Paralympic athlete Tatyana McFadden, CEO of TIME Magazine Jessica Sibley, Founder of Code to Inspire Fereshteh Forough, astronaut, Founder & CEO of Rise Amanda Nguyen, and astronauts Katya Echazarreta and Dr. Sian Proctor.

Ms. Nuna’s remarks published in full below:

Your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you to Rise, to Amanda Nguyen and to Spotlight Initiative for having me today.

I’m honoured to stand before you as a proud daughter of immigrants.

When I was first pitched to sing the voice of a character named Mira in K-Pop Demon Hunters, I never could have imagined the journey that saying yes would take me on.

But more exciting than the global stages and the awards, I could have never imagined the impact, progressing the conversation around female-centric stories, empowering kids to embrace their whole selves, and to be proud of where they come from.

That is the power of representation.

I stand before you as just one voice in a long legacy of women who have fought and are still fighting for change.

My success is not mine alone, and with it comes a responsibility  – to advocate for, to fund and to help build a more equitable world where the next generation of women and girls do not have to fight so hard to be seen, to be heard and to lead.

As we make significant strides for equal and more fair representation in culture and media, I feel compelled today to share the harsh realities of where we actually stand when it comes to the fighting for gender equity, equal opportunity, rights and safety.

Today we live in a world where 119 million girls are out of school globally, and 640 million women alive today were married when they were children. Here, in the wealthiest nation on earth, children are too afraid to go to school. 

A Stanford University study found that immigration enforcement caused an estimated 725,000 school days to be lost across California’s Central Valley. Not to a natural disaster, not to a pandemic, but to fear.

Again, as a daughter of immigrants, these are not abstractions to me.

My manager and I recently launched a scholarship for BIPOC women pursuing education. We read and cried over numerous stories of brilliant women.

Our winner was a girl named Fatima from Pakistan. When a deadly flood affected her town, she built solar panels from scratch to combat 17-hour power shortages. When her school failed her, she taught herself advanced math and programming, and then she took this knowledge and taught fellow girls in her community everything that she knew by hosting local hackathons. Born in a world and a system that has utterly failed her, Fatima continues to rise.

Stories like Fatima’s give me the strength and the unwavering resolve to believe in a future where a girl’s access to education is not a privilege but a birthright – and it’s the duty of every government to protect that birthright. A world where female leadership is not a luxury or an afterthought but an urgent strategic investment in a stronger world. 

The data speaks clearly. When 10 per cent more girls go to school, a country’s GDP rises by 3 per cent. Investing in women is not charity. It is the single most effective and transformative thing a society can do.

Today I urge any and all world leaders, and my fellow citizens, to be bold.

We must put real money and expertise behind organizations like the Luminos Fund, Girls Who Code and Kids in Need of Defense, working to ensure girls’ and children’s safety, and access to equitable education. 

We must take our love, our anger, far past social media alone – straight to the polls, the fundraisers and, of course, to the art that we make.

There is a long road ahead but today my team and I pledge to use every ounce of our privilege and platform to stay in this fight. 

And as Alice Walker once wrote of our mothers and grandmothers, we must keep moving to music not yet written.

That music is ours now, and I do hope you’ll join us.

Thank you so much.