Ariana Rockefeller (born May 26, 1982) is an American heiress, model and amateur

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

. She is a granddaughter of banker

David Rockefeller David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American economist and investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Bank, Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of ...

, a great-granddaughter of financier

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fifth child and only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of th ...

, and a great-great-granddaughter of

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

, founder of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

Early life and education

Ariana Rockefeller was born to David Rockefeller Jr. and Diana Newell Rockefeller. Her hometown is

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, but she was raised in New York and Maine. Her father served as the chair and remains a trustee of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

. Her sister, Camilla Rockefeller, a fellow

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

graduate, is the chairwoman of David Rockefeller Fund. She is a niece of ecologist Abby Rockefeller, economist Neva Goodwin, philanthropists and businesswomen

Peggy Dulany Margaret Dulany "Peggy" Rockefeller (born 1947) is an American heiress and philanthropist. Early life Rockefeller was born in 1947. She is the fourth child of David Rockefeller and Margaret McGrath, and a fourth-generation member (''"the cousi ...

and

Eileen Rockefeller Growald Eileen Rockefeller (born February 26, 1952) is an American philanthropist. She is the youngest daughter of David Rockefeller and Margaret "Peggy" McGrath. Eileen is a member of the fourth generation of the Rockefeller family widely known as "the ...

, and family physician

Richard Rockefeller Richard Gilder Rockefeller (January 20, 1949 – June 13, 2014)
'' ...

. Her paternal grandfather,

, was a billionaire businessman and the former chairman of

Chase Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Trade name, doing business as Chase, is an American National bank (United States), national bank headquartered in New York City that constitutes the retail banking, consumer and commercial bank, commercial banking su ...

from 1969 to 1981 as well as chairman of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

from 1970 to 1985. He was the youngest son of

and grandson of

founder

. She attended the

Ethel Walker School The Ethel Walker School, also commonly referred to as "Walker's", is a private, college preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 plus postgraduate located in Simsbury, Connecticut. History Founded in 1911, the ...

, an all-girls boarding school in Connecticut. She graduated from

with a B.A. in Political Science in 2009. As a college student, she interned at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Career

Fashion and lifestyle business

Rockefeller launched her own fashion line in 2011. In 2014, she opened a

pop-up shop Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. She added a line of handbags in 2016 after hiring handbag designer Bassam Ali. In January 2021, she reported that she closed her fashion business "a couple of years ago".

Equestrian career

Rockefeller began riding horses when she was three years old. She competed on the equestrian team in high school, during which time she took an interest in

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

. She took a break from riding in college, and resumed by partaking in competitive show jumping in 2012. In 2015, Rockefeller placed fourth in the Hampton Classic.

Modeling

In May 2021, Rockefeller signed with

Marilyn Agency Marilyn Agency is a French modeling agency established in Paris in 1985 by Marilyn Gauthier. History Marilyn Agency was founded in Paris by Marilyn Gauthier in 1985. In 1992, the agency added a men's division, and in 1997 the agency expanded to ...

in New York to work on special projects in their talent division.

Philanthropy

Rockefeller has served on the board of the nonprofit

Fund. Rockefeller supports the

Humane Society of the United States Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International (HSI), is a global nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scop ...

. She is a board member of

God's Love We Deliver God's Love We Deliver (GLWD) is an American charitable medically tailored meal organization founded in 1985 based in New York City. Despite its name, the organization is non-sectarian. God's Love We Deliver volunteers prepare and deliver meals t ...

and a Junior Associate of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. Rockefeller has chaired the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

's Winter Ball for several years. She also continues her family tradition of involvement and interest in ancient Greek culture and archaeology.

Views on family legacy and fossil fuel divestment

In a 2016 interview on ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987 to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012 to September 6, 2021. On November 1, 1999, the original incarnation was repla ...

'', she spoke out against the #Exxonknew campaign that was started by members of the

Rockefeller family The Rockefeller family ( ) is an American Industrial sector, industrial, political, and List of banking families, banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the History of the petroleum industry in th ...

, among them her cousin David Kaiser, son of Neva Goodwin Rockefeller, and distant relative,

Valerie Rockefeller Wayne Valerie Blanchette Rockefeller Wayne (born 1971) is an American environmentalist, philanthropist and member of the Rockefeller family. She is a great-great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller. Wayne currently serves as co-chair of BankFWD, a net ...

, daughter of former Senator

Jay Rockefeller John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937) is an American retired politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia (1985–2015). He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as governor of West Vir ...

, revealing a sharp divide within the family over its legacy in the petroleum industry and

fossil fuel divestment Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds, ...

. She also criticized the ongoing campaign to target

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

, a company that her family founded, as "deeply misguided" and "counterproductive" to ''Exxon's ongoing good work in clean and renewable energy'' in a ''New York Times'' piece.

Personal life

On September 4, 2010, Rockefeller married entrepreneur Matthew Bucklin. Their divorce was filed in April and finalized in October 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockefeller, Ariana Rockefeller family 1982 births Living people American fashion designers American female equestrians Columbia College (New York) alumni American women fashion designers