“The courage to fight, the power to survive and the leadership to inspire.” These are the pillars of the DVF Awards. They are also qualities that can be attributed to Diane von Furstenberg herself.

This was in evidence at the annual event at the United Nations on Thursday, which the designer and CFDA Chairman hosted with Tina Brown, and which honored extraordinary—and inspiring—women.

The honorees were Dr. Martine Rothblatt, who received the Lifetime Leadership Award. International Awards went to Anes Igoye and Maria Pacheco, while Sarah Jones received the Inspiration Award (and had the crowd in stitches with her character impersonations). Emily Greener, meanwhile, took home the People’s Choice Award (Click here for more on the honorees). Together, these women left guests “emotionally moved and inspired,” as Liya Kebede put it, describing her own sentiments. Wendi Murdoch, Anh Duong, Chirlane McCray, Allison Williams, Olivia Palermo and Johannes Huebl, Ray Kelly, and Charlotte Lawrence were in the audience.

The DVF Awards are supported by the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation—and seeing von Furstenberg’s own family come out and show support was inspiring in itself. Husband Barry Diller was there, as were her two children Alexander and Tatiana; von Furstenberg’s grandchildren Talita and Tassilo, who reside in Los Angeles, were also present along with their cousin Olympia of Greece. Ali Kay, Alexandra von Furstenberg, and Dax Miller joined the stage for a family photo at the end of the evening.

While honoring the five remarkable women in her remarks, von Furstenberg also put the spotlight on two other women she admires: Zaha Hadid and Hillary Clinton. Hadid, who died last week, “left a huge body of work and majestic buildings,” she said.

Clinton, the former Secretary of State and Democratic frontrunner for the presidential election, received the DVF Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and attended as a presenter last year. “I would like to ask the ones who know her, who know her passion, and her dedication to women and to all the values we believe in to please spread the word,” von Furstenberg said. “We want her as our next president.”