Melinda Ann French was born in Dallas, Texas, on August 15, 1964. Her parents, Raymond Joseph French and Elaine Agnes Amerland are her second-born siblings. Melinda remains a practicing Catholic today. She went to St. Monica Catholic School as a child, where she consistently placed at the top of her class.

She eventually made her way to the Catholic girls' college prep school Ursuline Academy of Dallas. She was enrolled in an advanced math class in seventh grade when she first developed an interest in computers. Her teacher, Mrs. Susan Bauer, who favored teaching computer science to girls, gave her her first computer experience here.

She confesses in her book the disagreement between her religious convictions and those of her religion. She believes the church has taught her to share what she has and have sympathy for people who are suffering and in need, even though she disagrees with the order established by males and professed by the church that harms and oppresses women. She was motivated by that to work for improving the status of women in the world. In the end, she was able to bring the two together on an amicable basis.

Melinda did not always have a job lined up at Microsoft. Melinda received a job offer from IBM after she completed her MBA at Duke University. Melinda Gates was on the verge of accepting a position at IBM, which is one of the most interesting facts about Melinda Gates. She had previously spent the summer working for this business. This indicated that she was considering taking a job offer because she felt at ease there.

She did, however, have another interview scheduled, this time with Microsoft. This business was just getting started. “I told the recruiter that I had one more interview - at this young company, Microsoft," Melinda said in an interview with Fortune magazine. "She said to me if you get a job offer from them, take it because the chance for advancement there is terrific.'" She discussed this chance with a recruiter. They urged her to pay attention to them since they presented promising chances for progress. Melinda accepted a position as a marketing manager at Microsoft after speaking with the recruiter. Here, she was in charge of creating multimedia products including Publisher, Word, Encarta, and Cinemania, among others.

Melinda started her charity endeavors in 1994 along with Bill, largely at the urging of Bill's father, William H. Gates, but also by following in the footsteps of Bill's mother, a devout philanthropist who had passed away earlier that year. The William H. Gates Foundation, their initial endeavor, pursued initiatives in the Pacific Northwest where they lived as well as global health initiatives. They established the Gates Learning Foundation in 1999 to support North American libraries, with a focus on bringing Internet technology to public libraries, three years after they first established the Gates Library Foundation. The Gates Millennium Scholars initiative, which funded minority study fellowships with $1 billion starting in 1999, came next.

In 2000, the pair established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has an estimated endowment of $17 billion. The new business is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The objectives of BMGF are to improve access to healthcare, lessen severe poverty worldwide, and increase chances for education and information technology. Melinda has won numerous prizes for her excellent work at the organization.

Melinda claims that her 1993 trip to Africa to view the wildlife gave her the idea to found the $50.7 billion organization. "It was incredible... But what touched us were the people, and the extreme poverty," explained Melinda during a TED Talk. "We started asking ourselves questions. Does it have to be like this?"

Melinda has since organized other multimillion-dollar grants, most recently providing Emory University with a $180 million grant to support infant mortality research.

The fact that Melinda Gates began dating Bill Gates when she was employed for Microsoft is probably one of the most interesting facts about Melinda Gates. 1987 saw them cross paths at a Manhattan PC trade event. She also began working with Microsoft this year. Rumor has it that Melinda was amused by Bill's sense of humor. After conversing and having fun at the occasion, they decide to go on a first date. She had to give her boss around three weeks' notice because of how busy he was. They were married on a Hawaiian island in 1994 after he proposed to her there in 1993.

They had three kids together—two daughters and a son. Jennifer Katharine Gates is their oldest child. She was conceived on April 26, 1996. Jennifer attended Stanford University to study medicine. Nayel Nassar, an Egyptian, is her husband. Their lone son Rory John Gates is the couple's second child. He was conceived on May 23, 1999. Like his mother, Rory studied computer software engineering at Duke University. He enjoys poetry. Phoebe Adele Gates is the youngest child. Her birthday is September 14, 2002. She is a student at Stanford. She enjoys reading and has a gift for ballet.

Because of their foundation, Melinda and Bill Gates have been recognized together on numerous occasions. They were given a Jefferson Awards prize in 2002 for "Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged." The Gates, who are well known for their generosity, were selected Persons of the Year by Time Magazine in 2005.

One of these interesting facts about Melinda Gates is that she and Bill got the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. In the US, this is regarded as the highest civilian distinction. President Barack Obama presented it to them in honor of their incredible accomplishments through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The pair felt very strongly about this because it was a sign of appreciation for the philanthropic work they have done since leaving Microsoft.

Melinda Gates has additionally led programs to promote women's rights. Her vision for the London Summit on Family Planning in 2012 was to provide access to contraceptives to more than 120 million women in poor nations by the year 2020. Melinda has long been featured on Forbes' list of the most powerful women in the world. She came in sixth place in 2018, behind world leaders including Theresa May and Angela Merkel. According to a previous Forbes article, Melinda has significantly improved women's health all across the world by utilizing her foundation to reduce maternal deaths in Ethiopia by 57% over the previous 30 years. These are only a few of the numerous additional accolades and awards received from all around the world.

Bill and Melinda Gates announced their separation in May 2021 after nearly 30 years of marriage. After a judge approved their settlement, the couple's divorce was officially finalized in August.

And in a brand-new story for USA Today, Melinda revealed that her "lowest moment in life" was the day she decided to end her marriage, explaining, "That wasn't something I ever thought would happen to me. It certainly wasn't what I thought on the day I got married, but I realized for myself, that I needed to make a healthier choice, and that was just a very, very sad day."

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's co-founders announced that they were splitting up. “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have decided to end our marriage,” they shared via Twitter. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.”

Bill Gates left the Microsoft board in 2020 to devote more time to the Gates Foundation. Melinda claimed in February 2022 that the ex-couples were still "friendly," but not friends. "There’s still healing that needs to happen. I certainly wish him well. I don’t wish him harm. I think we have a productive working relationship, and I think that will continue."

Melinda is not just a great entrepreneur but also an inspiration. She has also had books published, which is one of the most interesting facts about Melinda Gates. “How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings- and especially for women? Because when you lift women, you lift humanity.” The Moment of Lift- How Empowering Women Changes the World is the title of a book that was released in April 2019.

Melinda combines information about the most important global issues with personal experiences from her job as a philanthropist.

Melinda has spent most of her life seeking answers for those in need all across the world. Her memoir was influenced by her experiences on this trip. "I have been meeting men and women around the world now for 20 years in the foundation's work, and so many women have shared the stories of their lives with me," said Melinda on PBS NewsHour. "And by sharing their story and a bit about my journey, I hope to call other people to action for empowering women around the world."

Melinda doesn't want her to be the last person to bring up the topic of global innovation. She developed the online platform Evoke to engage individuals from all walks of life in bettering the planet.

The purpose of the content platform was to "evoke that sense of possibility" “to start conversations, amplify new voices, and forge stronger bonds between change-makers” according to Gates, who developed it with assistance from her autonomous executive office Pivotal Ventures.

Evoke will release stories centered on a particular theme once a month. The emphasis is "forward" for March, which is Women's History Month. The website's initial content includes articles about Girls Garage or utilizing Kenya's young. By "Fresh Takes," "Deep Dives," and "Big Ideas," the content is arranged. On the organization's website, Melinda writes, "I like to think of us as a community of possibilists—people who believe the world can get better and are determined to do our part to improve it.

The Moment of Lift, a new book by Gates that draws on her travels throughout the world to illustrate how empowering women can change societies, is also promoted by Evoke. To pursue initiatives related to gender inequality and women's empowerment that might not fit inside the framework of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates established Pivotal Ventures in 2015.

Melinda founded Pivotal Ventures because she wants to push America to become a more wealthy country for all of its residents while also doing her share to address global imbalances.

Pivotal Ventures was established in 2015 with the mission to "grow understanding around issues, expand participation, encourage cooperation, and fuel new approaches that substantially improve people's lives." Melinda's organization has made investments in companies that support paid family leave, offer outstanding mental health care to teenagers, and work to close the gender gap in technology.

Every person should have an equal opportunity to better their lives and the lives of others, according to Pivotal Ventures. Social growth requires equality, but equality by itself is insufficient. Even if everyone may eventually has equal access to opportunities, many people will still face institutional, political, and cultural challenges just because of who they are. All people should be allowed to contribute, participate, and lead better lives, according to Pivotal Ventures. The removal of obstacles that prevent people from achieving their potential is said to increase everyone's quality of life.

She put forth a lot of effort throughout her time at Microsoft and finally rose to the position of general manager of informational products. This implied that she worked on numerous enormous concepts that were realized. Melinda was a component of certain information goods that are currently available online. This includes:

• Expedia: It is one of the busiest websites for booking trips. Expedia Group, an American online travel retailer with headquarters in Seattle, owns Expedia Inc., an online travel agency. It is possible to reserve hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, and holiday packages via the website and mobile app.
• Microsoft Encarta: Microsoft produced the Encarta digital multimedia encyclopedia from 1993 until 2009.
• Microsoft Cinemania: was an interactive movie guide that was released on CD-ROM as part of the Microsoft Home series of reference and instructional multimedia applications, which were created by Microsoft and released yearly from 1992 to 1997.
• Microsoft Bob: was a piece of software developed by Microsoft to replace the Windows Program Manager and offer a more user-friendly interface for the Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, and Windows NT operating systems.

A few other well-known items include Word, Publisher, Money, and Works (Macintosh).