Books like the moment of lift: how empowering women changes the world

Melinda Ann Gates (née French; August 15, 1964) is an American philanthropist and a former general manager at Microsoft. In 2000, she co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband Bill Gates, the world's largest private charitable organization as of 2015. Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world's most powerful women by Forbes.

Melinda Ann French was born on August 15, 1964 in Dallas, Texas. She is the second of four children born to Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer, and Elaine Agnes Amerland, a homemaker. Melinda has an older sister and two younger brothers.

Melinda, a Catholic, attended St. Monica Catholic School, where she was the top student in her class. At age 14, Melinda was introduced to the Apple II by her father, which later inspired her interest in computer games and the BASIC programming language.