MELINDA GATES
Melinda Gates (Dallas, 15 de agosto de 1964) é cofundadora e copresidenta da Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, que loita para mellora-la saúde e a educación global.
En 1986 Melinda licenciouse en informática e economía pola Universidade de Duke, e ó ano seguinte obtivo un máster de administración de empresas centrado en economía na mesma universidade.
Comezou a súa carreira en 1987 traballando en Microsoft Corporation como encargada de producción, onde se distingueu coma unha líder desenvolvendo productos interactivos e multimedia de vangarda. Máis tarde ascendeu a directora xeral de productos de información. Entre os productos cos que traballaba incluíanse Expedia, Cinemania e Encarta. En 1996 deixou Microsoft para centrarse no seu traballo filantrópico e na familia.
Na actualidade, ela e o seu marido Bill adícanse á fundación a tempo completo. Ésta aportou un capital de máis de 33 billóns de dólares para combatir a fame e enfermidades coma a polio e a malaria nos países pobres. A través do seu traballo na fundación, Melinda veu de primeira man cómo o empoderamento das mulleres e das nenas pode transformar a saúde das familias e das sociedades, e sacalas da pobreza. En 2012 Melinda encabezou o London Summit on Family Planning, no que se adoptou a meta de proporcionar anticonceptivos a 120 millóns de mulleres máis en países en vías de desenvolvemento, antes de 2020. O seu traballo levouna a centrarse cada vez máis na igualdade de xénero como o camiño a seguir para acadar un cambio significativo.
“Cando investimos nas mulleres e nenas, estamos investindo na xente que inviste en tódolos demais”
Melinda Gates (Dallas, August 15, 1964) is co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that fights for global health and education.
In 1986 Melinda received a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics from the University of Duke, and the following year she obtained a master's in business administration with a focus in economics in the same university.
She began her career in 1987 working at Microsoft Corporation as product manager, where she distinguished herself as a leader developing cutting-edge interactive and multimedia products. Later she worked her way up to general manager of information products. The products she worked on included Expedia, Cinemania and Encarta. In 1996 she left Microsoft to focus on her philantropic work and family.
Currently, she and her husband Bill dedicate themselves to the foundation full-time. It has contributed a capital of more than 33 billion dollars to fight hunger and diseases such as polio and malaria in poor countries. Through her work at the foundation, Melinda saw firsthand how empowerment of women and girls can transform the health of families and societies, and lift them out of poverty. In 2012 Melinda spearheaded the London Summit on Family Planning, which adopted the goal of delivering contraceptives to 120 million more women in developing countries by 2020. Her work has led her to increasingly focus on gender equity as a path to meaningful change.
"When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else"