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Melinda French Gates is taking her professional power back.
French Gates is continuing her philanthropic efforts months after stepping down from her role at the Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Foundation, which she founded in 2000 with her now ex-husband.
Since leaving the foundation in May, French Gates has been taking her own meetings with important people, and she no longer has to worry about being overlooked.
"Quite honestly, it feels quite good," French Gates told Vanity Fair. "When I get a meeting now, I know it's because of me."
Although it hasn't been long since the 60-year-old left to focus on her own charitable company, Pivotal Ventures, French Gates told the publication that her professional life feels "different" without the Microsoft cofounder as her business partner.
French Gates and Gates divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. When she resigned from the foundation, she left with $12.5 billion for her philanthropy efforts, she said. According to Forbes, she has a net worth of $10.9 billion.
Before their working relationship ended, French Gates said he was getting the most attention during their meetings.
"If I went into a president or prime minister's office and I was with my ex-husband, they would turn to him first," French Gates said, according to VF.
She added, "Unless I interrupted the conversation, they could have just kept going for the whole meeting."
French Gates said that most powerful people would make the "false assumption" that she knew less about philanthropy than Gates despite their decades of work together.
In reality, her ex has previously said that she was the driving force behind the foundation.
"That, really, was sexism," she said.
Now that she's working independently, French Gates is taking on women's health issues and publicly backing Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.
"I feel extraordinarily energized about the work ahead. It feels like now is the right time," French Gates told VF.
