Melinda French Gates Reveals How She’s Changed After Foundation Exit: 'I Can Use My Full Voice in Any Way I Want'

Women "should have their full voice, their full resources, their full decision making authority," the philanthropist said

Melinda French Gates made headlines in June when she stepped down from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she co-founded with her now ex-husband Bill Gates over 20 years ago. But her philanthropic efforts are far from over.

Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, July 24, French Gates, 59, opened up about her commitment to giving away her fortune through Pivotal Ventures, her nonprofit organization that works on projects to empower women.

"What I am doing now in full force is making sure that women’s rights are not only on the agenda, but that women are setting the agenda," French Gates said about the company. "Women’s right globally and in the United States has been rolled back. The fact that my granddaughter will have fewer rights right now because of the Supreme Court than I had makes zero sense to me."

Related: Melinda French Gates Resigning from Gates Foundation: 'This Is Not a Decision I Came to Lightly'

French Gates founded Pivotal Ventures in 2015, but the company has now been supercharged after her exit from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with an additional $12.5 billion grant.

"One of the things I’m doing is making sure that we have far more women running for office, being able to raise funds for their positions and that they are really well trained on the legislative agenda they want to help get passed," French Gates said. "There’s 7,000 seats at the state house level and getting women into those positions, they create great policy and it’s a great training ground then to go onto the hill in DC."

Work like that, French Gates noted, was being done by phenomenal originations like Vote Run Lead and Vote Mama. "But to do it at scale, it needs to be supercharged," she said. "Part of why our women’s rights got rolled back in the United States is those originations were starved for funding and they were playing defense. And I’ve decided to put a billion dollars to it in the next two years because I want us to play on the offense."

Related: Melinda French Gates Says ‘Of Course’ She’s Open to Dating and Here’s What She’s Looking For

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French Gates' work with Pivotal Ventures is among the things about her life that's changed in the wake of her divorce, which was finalized in August 2021, officially ending her 27-year marriage.

"Fundamentally, I’m the same person, but I can use my full voice in any way I want to. And my full resources in any way I want to. And that, to me, it’s something I’ve been saying about women in society; that they should have their full voice, their full resources, their full decision making authority," she said. "And now I’m role modeling that."

She also noted that she's thinking a lot about her upcoming 60th birthday on August 15. It's something she's been exploring in her new YouTube series Movements That Make Us, where she interviews people like Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Megan Rapinoe, Michelle Obama, Billie Jean King and more about what they have to say about transitions.

"I learned a lot in the conversations of things that came out unexpectedly or connections we had that I just didn’t realize they were thinking about too," she French Gates said, of the chats.

The mother of three went on to reflect on advice she received from her mother that's suck with her. "She was there all the time and she said to me, ‘Melinda, set your own agenda or somebody else will.’ And that has stuck with me," French Gates said. "And guess what — at 60, I am setting my own agenda."

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.

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