September 13, Beijing time. Since divorcing Bill Gates and withdrawing from the foundation they co-founded, Melinda French Gates is rediscovering her professional influence and will not suffer gender discrimination because of being with Gates.
In May of this year, Melinda withdrew from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was renamed the Gates Foundation. In the months that followed, Melinda continued to work on her philanthropic work, meeting important people alone and no longer having to worry about being ignored.
"Honestly, it feels really good. Now when I go to meetings, I know they're coming to me."Melinda told Vanity Fair.
Melinda is 60 years old. Although she's just starting to focus on her philanthropic company, Pivotal Ventures, she told Vanity Fair that her career feels "different" without Gates as her business partner. In 2021, Melinda divorced Gates, ending their 27-year marriage. When she resigned from the Gates Foundation, she received $12.5 billion to use for her philanthropy. The Forbes rich list puts her net worth at $10.9 billion.
Melinda said that until her working relationship with Gates ended, she was constantly getting no attention in meetings. “If my ex-husband and I walked into the office of a president or prime minister, they would turn to him first,” Melinda said. “Unless I interrupted the conversation, the whole meeting would probably go on and on.”
She pointed out,Most powerful people would make the "erroneous assumption" that she knows less about philanthropy than Gates does, even though they have worked together for decades.
"That's really outright sexism."Melinda said. In fact, Gates has previously stated that Melinda is the driving force behind his foundation.
Now working independently, Melinda focuses on women's health issues and publicly supports Vice President Harris' bid for President of the United States.
"I'm extremely excited about the work ahead of me. It feels like now is the time to shine," she told Vanity Fair.