The Gates Way

Melinda Gates Was Born A Badass. Now She’s Opening Doors For Other Women To Succeed.

- Shalayne Pulia

For someone whose schedule is planned to a tee a year in advance, losing 18 minutes to New York City traffic can feel like an eternity. But it’ll take more than gridlock to ruffle Melinda Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In a bright orange blazer, black pants, and pointy-toe kitten heels, she saunters into our meeting at the Four Seasons and offers a quick handshake while an aide checks her watch. Clock’s ticking.

The wife of Microsoft’s founder and mother of three (to Jennifer, 22, Rory, 19, and Phoebe, 16) is the consummate multitasker, balancing parent-teacher conferences and family dinners with calls from world leaders to address issues like polio and poverty. “That’s one of the things we underestimate about women in the business world,” she says. “We spend our whole lives juggling, which is badass or kick-ass—I like either.”