I got a sense of power, I think, in some of the first meetings I had with people like Tracy and Helen. I remember, Tracy, the first meeting I ever had with you when you told everybody to write their net worth down on a piece of paper. Then you added it up, and we all realized there was a TV network for sale at the time for about the same figure. I realized that if I made myself a part of a larger whole, there was enormous power to be had.

That was when I stepped up and really took control of my assets. That inevitably requires involving yourself in the family business. I made a decision to go out there and make some money, because I want to be able to give it away, and I want my children to be able to give it away, and I want that for the generations going forward. Now I’m engaged in some of the day-to-day decision making both in the Disney company, as well as Shamrock, our equity investing company.

There was a time when I was writing a lot of checks to causes. I was crazy full of good intentions. It felt good momentarily, but it didn’t feel strategic or effective in any way. When I got involved with the New York Women’s Foundation [a WFN-affiliated public foundation of which Disney is a former president] I got engaged in the entire ethic of it. I found myself shoulder-to-shoulder with people I would never have been shoulder-to-shoulder with other than on a city bus. And that was absolutely life changing for me. There were also women who were working in communities who had never encountered a woman like me, and probably never would have, who also felt completely changed.