Jean Shafiroff
The First Lady of Philanthropy
The Role Fashion Plays in Philanthropy
Jean Shafiroff, the fashion icon and international philanthropist, recently listed on Tatler Magazine’s Most Glamorous International Gowns List of 2025, is a living example of how fashion and philanthropy can go hand in hand. Known for her spectacular style, this focused philanthropist, author, and TV host serves on multiple charity boards. Her love of fashion almost equals her love of philanthropy.
Author of the book, Successful Philanthropy: How to Make a Life By What You Give, Jean Shafiroff is often called the “First Lady of Philanthropy” by both the international and local press because of her generosity and hard work in the charitable world. Each year she chairs between 8 to 10 different charity galas. She also hosts and underwrites many large cocktail parties in her homes for both local and international charities. Jean Shafiroff has the ability to fuse fashion and philanthropy, making both subjects most appealing to those she encounters and those who follow her.
Chairing, underwriting, buying tables, hosting in her homes, ensuring a nonprofit’s message is delivered—this is the cadence of Jean Shafiroff’s days. Her fashion and philanthropy have spanned many years. She has appeared on multiple magazine covers and in fresh editorial features both in the United States and globally.
“My philanthropic work is a full-time job, and I love it! I am most fortunate to be able to do it.” In mid-October 2025, she was honored by the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation and received the Philanthropist of the Year Award. This is just one of the many dozens of charities that have honored her over the years.
Her leadership and full-time volunteer workload allow her to live up to her title as “First Lady of Philanthropy” on all accounts, and, in 2022, the New York State Assembly officially named her the “First Lady of Philanthropy.” The title remains.
Jean Shafiroff sits on the board of Southampton Hospital Foundation, NY Women’s Foundation, French Heritage Society, The Couture Council of the Museum at FIT, Mission Society of NYC, Casita Maria, and Global Strays. In addition, she serves on the honorary board of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and Ballet Palm Beach.
A Catholic, Jean Shafiroff served on the board of the Jewish Board for 28 years and is now an honorary trustee. During the pandemic, she served on the board of the American Humane and was their national spokesperson for their “Feed the Hungry: Covid-19 Program,” an initiative that raised $1,000,000 to feed 1,000,000 animals in shelters across the United States.
The scope of her philanthropic work continually expands. Although her New York and Southampton homes remain her base, she is slowly transitioning a good deal of her work to Southern Florida, specifically to the Palm Beach area. Jean owns a spectacularly modern home in Manalapan, Florida (an exclusive town considered part of Palm Beach) that is the perfect backdrop for her philanthropy and fashion.
Ask Jean Shafiroff which causes she loves, and she answers without hesitation: “helping underserved communities, women’s rights, health care, and animal welfare.” In addition, she supports the LGBTQ community and the arts. Jean also loves fashion—and has been a great supporter of it with an emphasis on helping emerging and independent designers.
In many ways, she treats her support of young fashion designers with the same seriousness as any nonprofit board. “I love the fashion industry … and make a big effort to support the lesser-known fashion brands,” she says. It’s not a hobby; it’s a mission with measurable outcomes: opportunity, exposure, and work for creative people building their names in a tough industry.
Regarding her love of fashion, Jean Shafiroff has long loved the styles of fashion designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Balmain, and Carolina Herrera, but she’s equally animated by less well-known names. Designers such as Victor de Souza, Malan Breton, Ese Azenabor, B Michael, Ron Dyce, and Frederick Andersen are just a few of those names.
What Jean Shafiroff understands—and what sets her apart in a world crowded with people and events—is that taste can be a tool for public good. Not a substitute for writing checks, not a distraction from the hard work of chairing a gala, serving on boards, giving knowledge and expertise, but a tool nonetheless.
In a culture quick to dismiss fashion as frivolity, that argument has weight when it arrives, as it does with her, dressed in discipline. She is not merely “supporting” designers with a tag on a post; she is commissioning work, paying for pieces by wearing them to rooms where patrons, editors, donors, and other decision-makers gather.
She is, in a word, a patron of the fashion world, a world that employs millions of people globally. She is an international philanthropic leader as well.
Jean Shafiroff owns a very large ballgown collection which she plans to donate to a museum one day. Her ballgown collection has earned her a place on a number of “best dressed” lists around the world. It is also the subject of countless conversations.
In addition to all of this, Jean Shafiroff manages to host a TV show entitled “Successful Philanthropy.” which airs on LTV East Hamptons many times each week. The show serves as a platform to give celebrities, politicians, fellow philanthropists, and executive directors of different charities the opportunity to discuss their charitable work—and to help motivate others.
Jean Shafiroff also has a very large social media platform reaching people across the globe. Her Instagram account @Jeanshafiroff has over 1.2 million followers, with the message of philanthropy, fashion, and positivity at its core.
Jean Shafiroff’s background in healthcare and finance adds weight to her advocacy. She holds a B.S. in Physical Therapy from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and began her career treating patients at St. Luke’s Hospital. After a short career as a physical therapist, she returned to Columbia and earned an MBA in finance from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and then worked as an investment banker on Wall Street.
If all of this sounds glamorous, it is. But it’s also work—the exacting kind that requires phone calls and emails answered, calendars managed, budgets committed, and a public presence maintained without letting the persona eclipse the purpose.
Jean Shafiroff is pragmatic about the demands, particularly in the days leading up to a major event. “If I did not believe in the importance of philanthropy—the need to reduce the divide between those that have and those that do not have—I could never maintain my demanding schedule. I serve a purpose to society and that is a good thing. I plan to continue my work in philanthropy and nurture my love of fashion for the rest of my life.”
