Who will walk the runway during New York Fashion Week and win $20,000? You decide.
Meg Hansen
Must finish first to be the Grand Prize winner.
Voting for this round ends on September 9, 2026 at 10:00 PM EDT
About Meg Hansen
I am a writer healing from complex trauma. Italian and Scandinavian fashion sparked the renaissance of my life, reconnecting me with creativity and beginning my journey to reclaim my identity and body.
Learn More About Meg Hansen
What makes you the Next Runway Star?
Fashion has played a powerful role in changing how I relate to myself. It shaped my understanding of femininity and creativity. As a teen, I had little agency over how I presented myself. My parent treated my desire to develop my own style as frivolous and irritating, rather than a normal part of growing up. Then, while in medical school in a foreign country, I was forced to dress in ways that were alien to my identity. Being denied such an intimate personal choice made an inescapable situation feel even more dehumanizing. When I finally seized the reins of my life, I sought refuge in the world of fashion where I could explore and discover my individuality and creative voice. Studying at the Polimoda Institute cemented my love of Italian art and design, while my subsequent internships in Scandinavia taught me to value simplicity and sustainability. As the Next Runway Star, I would embody hard-won personal freedom and a rich, eclectic aesthetic sense.
What would this once in a lifetime experience mean to you and why?
The Next Runway Star will walk in the RISE Fashion Show at New York Fashion Week. This contest expands the message of reclaiming one’s body without shame beyond survivors of sexual violence. That's what drew me to participate. Walking the runway would be a public and meaningful way to reclaim a body that I spent years training into silence – to embrace the sensuality and vulnerability I have long rejected in myself. I also see this once-in-a-lifetime experience as a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of the lasting and often hidden impact that unresolved complex trauma can have on the body.
What are you most proud of about yourself or what have you overcome and why?
I lost my mother to cancer when I was very young and grew up in an abusive family where I was parentified and made responsible for managing my father's emotions. At the age of 18, I was sent out of the country to study medicine. I found pervasive unhealthy competition and hostility towards women were deeply embedded in that society. It took me 5 years to break free and forge an independent path. However, contemptuous family rejection, financial deprivation, and long stretches without a place to call home left behind wounds of profound shame and chronic self-protection. I escaped by working hard and retreating into a life of the mind (writing, advocating for others) while still struggling with perfectionism and constant striving to prove my value through competence. I finally recognized that these were trauma adaptations that were holding me back. I made a decision to no longer let an obsolete survival mode determine my future. This is what I view as my most meaningful achievement.
What would you do with the $20,000 cash prize?
One of the most challenging aspects of complex trauma is that many people aren't aware that they’re carrying and reacting to its wounds. I've battled it since I was a child but didn't know its name until recently. To keep the fear of vulnerability at bay, I would control my body so that it stayed undemanding, unchanging, and predictable. This meant suppressing physical signals of hunger, exhaustion, and sickness, and living with intense terror around pregnancy even though I really want to have children. I reached a point where I made a pivotal decision – I was done disconnecting from and abandoning my body. Real change requires real action. If I am fortunate enough to win, I will use the $20,000 prize to support public projects that make the hidden impact of complex trauma visible and help others reclaim their bodies without shame while embodying self-assurance, authenticity, and femininity.
Content from Meg Hansen
Why am I Participating in Next Runway Star?
I share why I entered the Next Runway Star competition and what supporting RISE means to me.
Vote for Meg Hansen
Rise is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit that helps sexual assault survivors across the country and around the world. They’ve created the most successful legislative reform movement in U.S. history: 120 laws passed, 1 UN Resolution and 112 million people’s lives impacted by their efforts.
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