Melinda Gates
Philanthropist and author
Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist and advocate for women and girls, and the author of The Moment of Lift.
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Born 1964 in Dallas, United States
About Melinda Gates
Melinda French Gates was raised in Dallas, Texas. At Duke University she studied computer science and economics for her undergraduate degree, then went on to an MBA. She started at Microsoft in 1987 working on multimedia products, and spent the first decade of her career there before stepping away to concentrate on family and philanthropy. She co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2000 to 2024, and it has since been renamed the Gates Foundation. In 2015 she formed Pivotal, an organization working to move progress faster and strengthen women's influence in the US and worldwide. She wrote the bestselling book The Moment of Lift and also started Moment of Lift Books, an imprint that releases new nonfiction titles. She has three children and lives in Seattle, Washington.