Melinda Gates is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is also a global advocate for women and girls. Melinda is the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, worlds largest private charitable foundation.She grew up in a middle-class family in Dallas. Melinda Gates in childhood.Melinda was a brigh student in her high school days and always topped her class.Although Melindas mother, Elaine, herself never went to a college, she was very particular about her childrens education. Her mother maintained her rental properties on the weekends to provide for her childrens school and tuition fee. Melinda Gates in her teens with her mother and grandmother.When Melinda turned 14, her father gifted her an Apple II (an 8-bit home computer).While in high school, she was introduced to a math teacher named Mrs. Bauer by her father. While Melinda learnt advanced math from her teacher, she developed an interest in computer science and the BASIC programming language. Melinda Gates math teacher Ms. Bauer.While studying in the Duke University, Gates was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Beta Rho Chapter.During her graduation years, Melinda worked as a mathematics and computer programming teacher for a while.After pursuing an MBA, Melinda joined Microsoft Corporation as a product manager in 1987. As a product manager, she worked on multimedia and interactive products like Cinemania, Encarta, Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Money, Works (Macintosh), Expedia, and Word. Melinda Gates ID Card.She rose to the position of General Manager of Information Products in Microsoft and resigned from the same in 1996 after working nine years in the company.