Melinda French Gates (born August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist and former Microsoft computer scientist and general manager. Forbes has continuously listed French Gates as one of the world’s most powerful women.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she co-founded with her then-husband Bill Gates in 2000, is the world’s largest private charity organization as of 2015. The US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour has been bestowed upon her and her ex-husband. Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in early May 2021, but they will stay co-chairs of the foundation.
On August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, Melinda Ann French was born. Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Agnes Amerland, a housewife, have four children together. She is the younger of two brothers and has an older sister.
French, a devout Catholic, was the class president at St. Monica Catholic School. French was introduced to the Apple II at the age of 14 by her father and a teacher named Mrs. Bauer, who advocated for teaching computer science to the students at the all-girls school. Her interest in computer games and the BASIC programming language sparked as a result of this experience.
In 1982, French graduated from Ursuline Academy of Dallas as valedictorian. She graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in computer technology and economics in 1986 and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1987. French was a Beta Rho Chapter member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at Duke.
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Here are 10 interesting facts about Melinda Gates:
1. She became an author in 2019 and published her first book.
Melinda Gates has had a lot of success with Microsoft and her charitable investments over the years. She didn’t stop there, though. She wrote and released her first book in 2019. ‘The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World’ is the title of the book. This delves into her philanthropic career and discusses inequity and the challenges she has faced. She also tells inspirational anecdotes about folks she’s met throughout the years.
2. She is one of the world’s most powerful women.
Melinda Gates has consistently ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world as a result of her outstanding charitable work over the years and the way she has given back to the world. According to Forbes‘ annual list, she was number six on the list of 100 women in 2018. She’s been on the list every year since 2011, reaching as high as third place. Perhaps this will continue in the future with continued charity work and assistance to good causes.
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3. Pivotal Ventures is the name of the company she started.
Melinda Gates established Pivotal Ventures, which is an investing and incubator firm. It is based in Seattle, and she works on issues that she is passionate about. She has been particularly dedicated to advancing gender equality and assisting women in the male-dominated technological business. For instance, the corporation recently announced a $50 million donation to the Gender Quality in Tech Cities Initiative. This tries to address women’s underrepresentation in the technology sector.
4. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded by Melinda Gates and her husband Bill Gates.
Melinda and her husband launched the world’s largest private charity in 2000. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was the name of the organization. An amazing fact about Melinda Gates is that she has helped with healthcare and education in over 130 nations throughout the world. After visiting Africa in 1993, she was motivated to start the organization. The charity is estimated to be worth more than $50 billion, and they have aided many other organizations in making a difference in so many lives.
6. At a Microsoft press event, Melinda Gates ran into her ex-husband Bill Gates.
Melinda had been employed with Microsoft for a number of months. In 1987, she attended a news conference in Manhattan. Bill Gates, her future husband, sat next to her. They eventually set up the first date after talking and laughing at the event. Due to her boss’s busy schedule, she needed to give three weeks’ notice. Seven years later, in 1994, they married.
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7. She worked on various well-known information products that we still use today.
She worked hard at Microsoft and finally rose to the position of general manager of informational products. As a result, she worked on a lot of big concepts that eventually came to fruition. Melinda was a part of a number of information packages that are now available online. This includes Expedia, a service that helps people plan vacations and trips. Encarta was created as part of a prior project. This was a multimedia digital encyclopedia. Another project on which Melinda Gates worked was Cinemania, an interactive movie guide. Word, Microsoft Bob, and Publisher are some of the other well-known programs.
8. Melinda Gates would be working for IBM rather than Microsoft.
Melinda’s path to Microsoft was not always clear. Melinda Gates was extremely close to accepting a job at IBM, which is a fascinating fact about her. She had previously worked at this company during the summer. This indicated that she intended to accept a job offer because she felt at ease there. She did, however, have another interview scheduled, this time with Microsoft. At the time, this was a relatively new corporation. She told a recruiter about the chance. They urged her to pay attention to them because they offered significant prospects for promotion. Melinda went on to accept a job offer from Microsoft as a marketing manager.
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9. Throughout her academic career, she was consistently at the top of her class.
Melinda Gates has excelled in school and university since she was a little kid. She was the top student in her class at St. Monica Catholic School because she was so bright. Melinda Gates graduated as valedictorian in 1982, which is an interesting detail about her. This occurred at Dallas’ Ursuline Academy. She studied computer science and economics at Duke University, where she excelled academically. Her learning did not end there. In 1987, she earned an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business.
10. Her father’s profession, as well as future competitors Apple, motivated her.
Melinda Gates has always been fascinated by technology. Her father was an Apollo program engineer, which contributed to her fascination with all things technological. She would frequently request rocket launches. Her parents also used to have an Apple computer. This was fascinating to her, and it piqued her curiosity about electronics and technology. In addition, while she was in seventh grade, she enrolled in an advanced math class, which piqued her interest in computers.
