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May 6, 2021 33 mins

In the wake of Melinda and Bill Gates’ recent divorce announcement, we’re sharing Melinda’s most personal interview ever. We talk about division of household labor, empowering women around the world, raising well-adjusted kids and the last thing that she and Bill fought about. Tune in to really understand Melinda and what she stands for. 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women. They're professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. On today's show,
we talk with Melinda Gates, a world changer in the

(00:24):
lives of women and girls. Melinda is the best selling
author of The Moment of Lift, which just came out
today in paperback. She appeared on the Today Show this
morning and she's spending her afternoon with us. So, Sam,
I've lived in Seattle for eight years, and Melinda is
a hometown hero. There are so many influential leaders here
in the Pacific Northwest, but I think Melinda stands apart

(00:46):
because she has this amazing dedication to issues that are
important to women and girls, which is something we both
care a lot about. Um. But she's also just really
accessible and supportive. I'll never forget when I launched the
Riveter in sen Um. Right after we opened our doors,
we won an award from geek Wire, which is Seattle's
tech publication, as the best newcomer in the startup world.

(01:07):
And the next day I woke up and Melinda had
tweeted a message of support, And just that small act
from someone was such a powerful voice, was so meaningful
in getting my business off the ground. Wow, I had
no idea. I love that. I love when I hear
about women supporting women, especially a woman like her supporting
an entrepreneur she had not met yet in her hometown.

(01:28):
You know, after reading her book Covered a Covery yesterday,
you know I was cramming. Melinda has become my absolute hero.
I didn't realize before how many millions of lives she
saved and changed. When she and Bill started their foundation,
there was a twenty five year lag between the time
that Americans received a vaccine and the time it made

(01:49):
its way to a third world country. Since they began
their foundation, the gap has been reduced to just twelve
to eighteen months. It's it's hard to even conceive of
how many lives they've saved, and her work with gender
and girls and family planning child marriage is just so
inspiring to think about the impact. Before we talk with Melinda,
we wanted to let you know that we have a

(02:10):
short interview at the end of today's episode with an
amazing founder, Alicia Chung Rodriguez, the CEO of Bloomer Tech,
who's working with a program we love ubs is Project Entrepreneur.
And now onto our conversation with Melinda Gates. We are
so excited to talk to you today. Thanks for having me.

(02:30):
One of the things I loved about your book is
that you describe building a partnership with a man who
has a very strong voice. How did you do it? Well?
I think you know. When our children were born, our
first daughter, Um, I started to see all the work
that it really takes to raise a child, and especially

(02:52):
I talked about in the book. As she became school aged,
and we agreed on the school that we wanted our
daughter Jen to go to, but it was quite far
from our home and I and by then we had
a second child and we were hoping for a third one.
And as I could see all the years ahead on
the freeway driving the minivan to school, I said to Bill,
let's just delay and maybe send our children a few

(03:13):
years down the line. And he felt strongly that she
start at preschool, and so finally, after some back and forth,
he said, well, what would make it more palatable to you,
and I said, well, if you drove, and so he
would drive her two mornings a week to school, and
it became this wonderful tradition where he started driving the
kids more and it took him a lot of time

(03:33):
because he had to make it all the way back
to Microsoft. But inadvertently, that conversation in our home meant
that in the classroom, we didn't even realize we were
role modeling more dad's taking their kids to school and
mom started going home and saying to their husbands, Hey,
if Bill Gates can drive, and he's the CEO of Microsoft,
so can you. How did that translate to what was

(03:54):
going on at home, whether doing the dishes or scheduling
doctor's appointments. Well, I mean, I think I have to
recognize obviously that I'm in an incredibly privileged position, and
so there are things that I can have, you know,
more childcare help probably than many women can, or more help,
for instance, with grocery shopping. So I wouldn't say we

(04:15):
made a perfect partnership in terms of making it equal,
but when it came to the tasks that we were
both doing without any support, we would have to have
ongoing conversations about who does the dishes after dinner. Luckily,
Bill grew up in a home where he and his
sister did the dishes like my sister and I did.
But you know, when it came to who's doing the
final cleanup of the toys at night once the kids

(04:37):
have gone to bed and left some things around, I
had to make sure. I said, look, nobody leaves the
kitchen until mom leaves the kitchen. And that meant kids
or Bill, and so it meant you didn't get to
just go upstairs and go to your computer or do
your homework. We actually all started doing the tasks that
needed it to be done after dinner together as a
family and as a fivesome, and that really helped us.

(04:58):
How did you meet Bill um So? I was new
to Microsoft. I just graduated with computer science degree in
NBA from Duke. I was the incoming MBA class at Microsoft.
Nine men and me, and shortly after I'd come to
the company, I guess I'd caught Bill's I and we

(05:18):
were both in the parking lot on a Saturday. Everybody
seemed to work on a Saturday at Microsoft, and he
asked approached me and asked me out for two weeks
I think from Friday night. And I said to him,
two weeks from Friday night, that's not spontaneous enough for me.
I don't know what I'm doing two weeks from now.
Of course, he had all these things on his schedule,
and so he asked my phone number. I gave it

(05:39):
to him, and then um. He called me later that
night at my apartment and said, okay, well, I have
a user group meeting tonight and a customer meeting, but
would you be available later for a drink? And I thought, well, okay,
at least he's putting in the effort. That's a little
more spontaneous. So I met him later that night for
a j What was your courtship like? Did you talk
about down the road having kids? You would jug all things,

(06:00):
how you would form a partnership before you got married. Well, later,
when we were more serious in the relationship and starting
to think about, um, you know, would we spend a
life together, we absolutely discussed a number of children. Did
we both want to have children? It was imperative to
me that whoever was going to be my partner in
life wanted to have children and would be committed to it. Luckily,

(06:20):
We both came from families that believed in family life.
But I think, yes, those are incredibly important, uh conversations
to have before you have a life partner. And in addition,
during the time we were engaged, we started to talk
about forming a foundation, because we didn't know exactly when
we were going to do it, but we had already
committed by then that the vast majority of resources from

(06:43):
Microsoft would go back to society in a charitable way.
In your book, you talk a lot about cracking the
patterns of history, and you also share that after having
this huge career with eighteen hundred people reporting to you,
you're pregnant with your first child and you say it
to Bill, I want to stay home, and he was stunned.
Is that a decision you hope your own daughters will

(07:03):
make one day? Well? I hope that my own daughters
make whatever is the right choice for them. I just
knew for me at the time. Growing up, I had
benefited tremendously from having a mom who stayed home with
us as children. She also started with my father, who
was an engineer, and he was working at a job

(07:25):
full time every day, but she also started a real
estate company with him. And they were. We had a
real estate business that we were all working on to
support our college funds so that the four of us
could go to school. But I knew the benefit of
having a mom at home full time, and I wanted
that for my children for a time, especially early in life.
And yet I knew I would always want to go

(07:46):
back to work again because I actually loved working and
I loved what I could learn by being around curious people.
So I chose to step back then for my and
that again, that is an incredibly privileged position to be
in the fact that we didn't need my income, which
is not the plight of most women in the United
States around the world. But for my daughters, I hope

(08:07):
they choose whatever feels right to them and their spouse,
saying with my son if and when they choose to
have children, and and you know, are able to figure
out how do you blend career and family life. So
much of your work around the world is focused on
helping women reach their potential. Do you feel that you
have reached your personal potential? I hope I have not.

(08:31):
I hope until the day I die, I have not
reached my full potential. Um look, I think in life,
we have so much to learn, and you know, as
long as we all stay curious. But yes, I feel
like my life's advocation from everything I've been lucky enough
to do traveling the world on behalf of the foundation.

(08:53):
I have benefited tremendously by men and women having me
into their homes, and women in particular being will to
share with deep candor what their life circumstances are and
the great lengths they will go in these low income
countries to keep their children alive. And it's why I
wrote this book Moment of Lift in two thousand and nineteen.
These women had animated my life and called me to

(09:17):
my life's work ultimately, as I went home and reflected
on it, and so I wrote this book to try
and reflect their lives as I saw it, and what
I think the world can do to make sure that
all women can take their equal place in society, whether
we live in the United States because we have a
long way to go still here in the US to
reach equality, or whether women live in a lower middle

(09:38):
income country. And now for a quick break, you have
traveled the world, and when you've done it, you seem
to have gained the trust of the women you've talked
to in these different communities very quickly. How do you
do that? Well, first of all, I go in with
somebody who's a trusted member of the community that they
already know, either an another woman who is an educator

(10:02):
in the community, maybe a woman leader in the community,
maybe an NGO non governmental organization, it's already working there.
And so by building on the trust that he or
she already has with the community, then I can come
in and be introduced by them, and eventually we can
get around to my questions. Um. It takes time, though,

(10:22):
and as well, I try to leave time for the
women themselves to ask questions of me, because it's not
fair for me to just go in and ask them
about their lives. And I have to speak with candor
about my life as well and what's been easy for
me or difficult for me. And I think that's the
only way you build that bridge of trust and a relationship.
In the book, you give us the sense that you're

(10:43):
uncomfortable with the amount of wealth that you have. How
have you reconciled that? Well, I I am. I'm deeply
uncomfortable with the amount of wealth I have, and I
think the majority of it should go back to society.
I mean Bill was lucky that know, he lived in
the United States when he formed Microsoft, and any of
us that worked there were lucky for the educations we

(11:05):
have that allowed us to work and do that work
at the company. So what I try to do when
I come home from these trips or right now during
a pandemic where I can't travel to so many places
that I do like to go, like Tanzania or Kenya
or Malawi, When I turn on the shower in the
morning and clean, warm water comes out for me to

(11:27):
take a shower, I try to remember, Wow, I was
in those that couple's home on in scenario, a warm
shower would have been a luxury. You know, every third
or fourth day we got to have a bucket of
cold water and rinse ourselves off. And I remember, you know,
when I do the dishes with my daughter, son or
Bill standing next to me, that we have clean water

(11:50):
to wash our dishes and to drink that comes out
of the faucet. And I think when you can remember
those things and be grateful for them, then you're not
as separate from your wealth or your privilege as people
who are in different circumstances, and what about with raising kids.
I know in my own house, I see that my
kids are so uncomfortable with anything that screams privilege. I
think this generation is so much more aware of privilege

(12:12):
than we were at this age, and it makes them uncomfortable.
I assume you've experienced this in your own family. How
have you parent had given that backdrop? Well, my kids
and I have talked often about being a home where
we want anybody to be able to come and to
feel comfortable. So if that's a classmate or a classmates

(12:33):
mom and dad and they live in a different part
of town. Um. Sometimes we've had people come to our
front door and you can tell they're incredibly uncomfortable their
first time, especially a parent at our home. We will
sit down on the floor by the front door with
the dog. And if you want to have something that
gets people to feel equal, if everybody's sitting on the

(12:54):
floor with their shoes off and you're kind of petting
the dog, they start to see, oh, these people might
live a normal life and saw this this large home,
you know, Or if you're willing to invite them in
the kitchen while you're still in your bathrobe, in the
morning and you're you're scrambling eggs and you need somebody
to help you set the table, and you just kind
of go about it. People start to realize, oh, this
is a place where they're trying to have a family

(13:15):
life too, And so I think you can do things
to try and normalize and make it feel more equal
to people. And I think we have to go to
extra lengths to do that, um in our home if
we're going to have real if our children and we
are going to have real relationships, and also to make
sure that the relationship isn't always in our home, that
it's also out and about in the community, so it's

(13:36):
not always on our turf. It's other places that we're
doing things together with people that are normal, things like
going to the park or when the kids were younger,
going and meeting somebody at the public library. You talk
a lot in your book and generally about the link
between women's empowerment and wealth, which I love. I think
women need to talk about money more. How important is
it for women to have their own money extraordinarily, And

(14:02):
what I have learned from women in very low income
settings is that when they can save even a dollar,
a day, two dollars a day into their own bank
account on their phone, not a smartphone, an old plastic phone.
When they have that means, they will tell you it
changes their life because it changes how their mother in

(14:24):
law sees them if they live in India. It changes
how their oldest son sees them when she might be
able to buy him a bike. It changes how their
husband sees them when they can help bring some money
to the kids school fees for the tuition that's due.
So money is power, but women have to have it
in under their own control. Women will even tell me

(14:46):
I could finally leave this abusive relationship with my husband
when I knew I had the means to take care
of myself and my children. So money is vitally important
for a woman. Speaking of power, you really ment your
own in terms of using your voice over the years,
how did you gain the confidence to realize I have
this very strong voice and I want to use it well.

(15:09):
I think I had my full voice when I was
in high school, in an all girls high school run
mostly by women. I knew what I was capable of doing.
I had my full voice. I knew I was good
at math and computer science. I lost some of that
when I went to college, um, just with more men
around who are more abrasive. I grew up in Texas

(15:31):
and a Catholic community. I hadn't really been around many
East Coast people, let's say that. And then I think
also in the computer industry, you know, Microsoft was a
very uh it was an amazing place to work, a
lot of curiosity. We were changing the world, but there
was a lot of brashness there and um, you know,
fighting for your ideas. And so I think over time,

(15:53):
and then also when I stepped out of the workforce
for a few years to raise children, I started to
lose my voice and lose my confidence. And then when
I came back and started working at the Foundation, it
was a whole new field for me. And so you know,
I don't have a background in biology. I have a
background in computer science. And so I had to have
enough courage to overcome the impostor syndrome to uh put

(16:17):
enough people in around me that I felt comfortable asking
questions of and not being afraid to ask questions. And
when I finally realized that I knew enough, I didn't
know everything. I'll never know everything. You can't know everything
in biology it's constantly changing or in the immune system
what we know. But I knew enough to do my job.
That's when I started to speak out with more courage

(16:38):
and conviction because I knew what I knew, particularly having
talked to so many women in these settings around the world,
and what they would tell me anecdotally. I would come
back and look through the literature and look through the data,
or if there wasn't data there, I would start to
talk to enough scientist to find out, Hey, what they're
saying is true. We just don't leck the data. Um.

(17:01):
But it took a journey for me to to find
my full voice. It can be hard to choose what
things to speak up about. What was the last thing
that you had to speak up about that you were
conflicted by. Well, sometimes when you're making calls to members
on the Hill, whether it's senator or somebody in the
House of Representatives, you know quite often that's a male

(17:24):
because they're quite more of them than there are females. Luckily,
that's beginning to change. We're still, though, sixty years away
from having a quality on Capitol Hill between men and women.
But so often besides global health, which they know, Bill
Orry are calling about UM. I want to also talk
about childcare because I want them to know, particularly during

(17:47):
this pandemic, that it's the child care responsibilities that they're
seeing in their homes right now, or they're seeing their
daughters do in their homes. They know it, they see it.
They can't turn their backs from it. But I want
them to know they need to do something about it.
We need paid sick days during this pandemic. We need
a paid family medical lead policy. Those conversations aren't always

(18:08):
easy to weave in because they'll have other things they
want to talk about. But I have to have courage
and conviction to use my voice and to take the
time to do it, and then you start to find
the openings and you start to find a coalition. But
I'll tell you those conversations don't always come naturally or
easily when you're starting them up. And I've had a
fair bit of that, to be frank, during this pandemic.

(18:31):
And now for a quick break. I appreciate that you
call it an injustice talking about the childcare situation in America.
I mean, the numbers that we've seen of women leaving
the workforce over the past few months are stunning um
and women have been so disempowered by the pandemic. How
do we emerge from this in a way that supports
them in meaningfully. I think we emerge from this by

(18:54):
giving women their true place at the table and people
of color. We put women in places where decisions, all
decisions are made, and people of color with their full
voice and their full decision making ability and potential. And
that means investing in women. That means investing in women
in the tech sector. I think, Amy, you have a

(19:14):
sense of how difficult it is for a woman to
start a business and get venture capital funding behind it
um and yet tech is pervasive in society. I think
we need to make sure there are more women in
finance and seats at the table in those powerful financial institutions.
Money moves through our society and changes things, but women

(19:36):
don't have enough seats at the table in political office.
We need far more women in state houses, in governor's roles,
and in the Senate at the federal level, and in
the House of Representatives, because when you have women in
people of color, they make different policies for society because
they see society and its full writteness Uh, it's full richness.

(19:57):
They don't just see it from one point a view.
But we need to open up networks for women. We
need to put funding behind women. We need to create
pathays for women into these key key industries. If we're
really going to have women with power and influence in
our society, what is something that CEOs and leaders can
do to make sure in their company that they're not

(20:18):
losing female talent or people of color. So CEO he
or she can look at the policies inside their own
company and they can get their own house in order,
so they can start with transparency. They can look at
how many women and people of color are at all
levels of the organization, and then they can hold the
organization accountable for those people and those roles. So if

(20:43):
those jobs have been shed because women, for instance, choose
to step back from the labor force because of let's say,
childcare elder care responsibilities, they can start to say, my gosh,
you know, at this level of talent, we've lost so
many women or people of color. What are we going
to do about that? What do we need to do
to change our paid family medical lead policy? What do

(21:05):
we do need to do to make it more robust?
What do we need to do to have more flexibility
for moms or dads of people of color. That those
are all things that a CEO can do in an instant,
but they need to hold everybody accountable for it, not
just the HR department. You have throughout your career taken
on some controversial issues. You know, you were raised Catholic

(21:27):
and you took on contraception, which is incredibly important to
women's economic empowerment around the world. What are some tips
you would give to other women who are taking on
controversial issues, whether it's in their community or in their workplace.
I would say, um, surround yourself with people who can
remind you every single day why you do what you

(21:48):
do and that you can do it. You know, I
have days where I've come into work, or let's say
I've gone into a meeting with a world leader and
I'm incredibly nervous or timid or not sure I have
all my facts straight. But to have somebody by my
side that can remind me you know enough and you
you believe in this, Remember this is why you're doing it.

(22:09):
As soon as I have that person by my side
before I enter the meeting, then I have enough courage
to say what needs to be said, and I also
seemed to then relax into myself and remember to connect
with this person on a human to human level. You'd
be amazed at how many presidents are prime ministers want
to be asked first about their family. Right. They care too,

(22:32):
and they're kind of surprised when you first asked that question.
But you'd be amazed how on and on they go,
and again you start to build a level of trust
so that then when you get to some of the
tougher conversations, hopefully they're willing to listen and hear you.
It sounds like you have a great group of friends,
and you're also very intentional about making time to see them.
I am so incredibly fortunate to have UM a deep,

(22:56):
deep circle of predominantly these days female friends. Certainly male friends,
but more couples males friends. UM I make an enormous effort,
as do they. So my Monday walking group that I
talked about in the book, there are four of us.
We are still walking during the pandemic, but we're doing
it holding our phones and putting our earbuds in, and
we each walk in our own neighborhood. But we still

(23:18):
do it every Monday morning, Um during the pandemic. Again,
a handful of friends I have. I'm in two different
spiritual groups. We have found a way eventually to meet
outside these days. It's very cold and rainy in Seattle,
so it's under somebody's cardboard with a few heaters and
blankets and lots of ski parkas on. Uh. And we're

(23:39):
socially distanced, but those friendships are the places where I
have real candor and trust, and same with those women
for their lives. And so when any of us is
going through something difficult, and we all have and do
in our lives, we can talk about it, and we
can share and relieve ourselves or even get some advice
from one another. And I have found that incredibly invaluable

(24:03):
my entire life. But for sure, in these adult female
years of my life, I would say, so are you
an empty nester? Now? I still have we have an
eighteen year old daughter who's still at home, so she's
a senior in high school. But I will be an
empty nester reluctantly. Uh next year. How is that going

(24:23):
to change your lifestyle? With Bill? Um? I don't really
know yet, to be honest, because if you'd asked me
a year ago, I would say, my gosh, we're traveling
a lot on behalf of the foundation, but with children
at home or daughter at home, we obviously made sure
we were home a lot for her activities at home.
I would have told you a year ago I probably
travel more UM, but now work is changing, and to

(24:46):
be frank, I almost hope to travel less. I still
want to go out and meet so many of the
people UM in these different countries and understand what life
is like for them post pandemic. But I'm hoping a
lot of the conference as we go to the fundraising
efforts that we do. You know, we've been able to
do a lot of that by video conference and by phone.

(25:08):
I hope we can do more of that and so
actually have a bit less travel. But we'll see. We'll
see how the world looks when we all start to
go back to some normality. All right, let's start the
learning around Amy. Okay, Melinda, what are you reading right now?
I'm reading President Obama's book right now? Who Leaves You
star Struck? Oh goodness, who leaves Me star strick? Well?

(25:31):
Probably the character Simon on Britain. I've been watched that
I'm like, I'm wautching that right now. And I actually
realized when I asked you when you were dating Bill,
and I said about your courtship, and I was like,
I'm watching too much. How would your best friend describe you? Um,

(25:53):
I would say warm and authentic and laugh easily. I
have a deep, hearty laugh. But I think that's probably
how they describe me. What was the last thing you
and Bill argued about? Oh, gosh, probably time? Who is
going to spend time on what that seems to be

(26:15):
our commodity that we don't have enough of use down
like every other couple exactly, especially now. So my big
takeaway Sam and when I think all of us can
learn from it's just how intentional Melinda is with her
work and her time. She asked questions. She looks to
data just to figure out both what the problems are

(26:36):
and how if she can she can help. I also
found it really interesting that when she is looking to
understand a problem or get to know a community, she
doesn't just kind of walk in. She finds a guide,
so someone who's trusted in the community, who knows the
people she wants to know. And I think that I
could definitely do that better in my own work. What
about you? So my major in college with social anthropology,

(26:58):
and all of our classes were centered around the theme
of how you enter a culture respectfully without bringing in
your own biases, which is the hardest thing to do
as an ethnographer, and Melinda has lived that. It's so
rarer to me a leader that exude as much empathy
as she does. My favorite part of our conversation was
when she described her family ethos of aiming to make

(27:19):
everyone feel comfortable in their home and how they do it.
I just love how she infuses her work and her
personal life with empathy as a guiding force. She speaks
my language, Sam. I think the one other thing to
add to that is, you know, given how amazing the
work Melinda does is I think she would be an
amazing asset to all of us if she ran for office.

(27:40):
I don't know. I mean, I always want every woman
to run for office, you know that, But in her case,
I can't imagine her having an even bigger impact on
the world, and she's having in her current work. So
I actually feel like she's making the biggest difference she
can make right now where she is today. We have
extra content with US is Alicia h On Rodriguez, co

(28:01):
founder and CEO of bloomer Tech. Her company benefited greatly
from Project Entrepreneur, a program created by UBS. Licia. Welcome
to What's Your Story? Thank you, It's wonderful to be here.
So what's your founder story? Well, just a little background.
I was born and raised in Costa Rica. I did
my undergund in Mexico and came to the US to

(28:23):
study at m T. It was there that I joined
the might Computational Cardiovascular Research Group and met my co
founder of sil hellabi as Cela and I were shocked
to realize about the stark reality that women's heart research
likes far behind that of our male counterparts. There are
twenty years of scientific evidence that shows that women's physiology

(28:45):
is different than men's, yet algorithms and new technologies are
still being built around male data. We're at the infancy
of truly understanding female cardiac health, women's software, adverse outcomes
that are actually preventable to the most common causes of
death and disability of people worldwide, heart disease, and spoke.

(29:06):
That's why we created bloomer Tech to build personalized diagnostics
and therapeutics by using our advanced textile sensors to turn
garments like an everyday broth into the most comfortable medical
device to Taylor cardiovascular care to each individual woman's physiology.
Why the word Bloomer, Yes, so we called Bloomer Tech

(29:26):
after a media Bloomer who was addressed reformed advocate of
the eighteen hundred she made. Bloomers replaced corsets because they
were binding and damage to women's organs. In this technological era,
we continue her movement that she started because we believe
that our clothes have the power to optimize our health. Well,

(29:48):
I think I can speak for all women when I
say thank you to Amelia Bloomer for releasing us from
the future. Of course it's Alicia. When was your moment
of left when your idea became a reality? Yes, you
know that. When I think about it, I think there
has been a handful of moments, but a strong one
was actually being part of Project Entrepreneur. We started Project

(30:08):
Entrepreneur just days after graduating from m I T just
three days after so it was very fast decision and
great opportunity to join this program. And at the time
before that I was living at dorms and on a
stipend from my fellowship. So transitioning from academia to full

(30:29):
time entrepreneurship was daunting. We had never fund raised and
our network was limited, and Project Entrepreneur helped us make
this transition. It helped us throw our network and gain
exposure to other successful female founders just like this podcast,
which is also great exposure for us. So in the program,
we got direct advice from icons like Arena Hoffington and

(30:53):
Jen Hyman. And it was not only the during the program,
you know afterwards we we've had advice from them too,
and we also bring built very strong friendships with other
female founders that are at the same stage as us,
and participated in workshops to strengthen our business, our pitch deck,
our plans. It marked the beginning of our full time journey,

(31:14):
gave us the confidence and removed many barriers that we
might create on our own. Project entrepreneurs sounds incredible. So
where can we follow you on your journey and what's
what's next for you? Yes, well, we we look forward
to more women that want to support the advancement of
women's health joining us this year. We're at the intersection

(31:35):
between apparel, healthcare, and technology, and we have multiple efforts
to promote inclusivity and healthcare. So you could join as
an individual or as a company, and you can send
us an email at heart at Bloomertech dot com and
follow us on social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

(31:56):
Thank you t U b S for sponsoring today's episode.
There program Project Entrepreneur accelerates the growth of female founded
companies by increasing their investment readiness and connecting them to
the resources and networks that they need to build and
grow their businesses. Since its launch in Project Entrepreneur has
supported more than eighteen hundred female founders, and I'm proud

(32:18):
to say that The Riveter and me are among them.
You can learn more about how to get involved in
this incredible project by checking them out on Instagram at
p j T Entrepreneur. Thanks for listening to What's Her
Story with Sam and Amy. We would so appreciate if
you would leave a view wherever you get your podcasts,
and of course, connect with us on social media at

(32:39):
What's Her Story podcast. What's Her Story with Sam and
Amy is powered by my company, The Riveter at The
Riveter dot c O in Sam's company park Place Payments
at park place payments dot com. Thanks to our producer
Laurel Mowglin, our podcast associate Emma Hard, and our male
perspective Lue Burns.
Advertise With Us

Hosts And Creators

Samantha Ettus

Samantha Ettus

Amy Nelson

Amy Nelson

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