Melinda Gates

The Power of Lift: A Conversation with Melinda Gates

Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 10:45 am Pacific Time

In her compelling and candid book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, philanthropist Melinda Gates shares the stories of women she’s met all around the world, and comes to a critical conclusion — “If you want to lift up humanity, empower women.”

Join Knight-Hennessy Scholars, led by Suhani Jalota, pursuing a PhD in health policy at Stanford School of Medicine and an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business, for a conversation with Melinda Gates on the day after International Women’s Day to discuss lessons from her book in leadership and the power of lifting up women.

Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls.

As the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda sets the direction and priorities of the world’s largest philanthropy. She is also the founder of Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company working to drive social progress for women and families in the United States, and the author of the bestselling book The Moment of Lift.

Melinda grew up in Dallas, Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School. Melinda spent the first decade of her career developing multimedia products at Microsoft before leaving the company to focus on her family and philanthropic work. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband, Bill. They have three children, Jenn, Rory, and Phoebe.

Sponsored by Knight-Hennessy Scholars and the Office of the President and Provost