Melinda Gates speaks personally on importance of empowering women



SEATTLE -- Seattle philanthropist Melinda Gates has brought her thoughts on empowering women back home Thursday night.

Gates has been a global advocate for women and girls, and she shared her own experience about empowering herself to lead.

She says she first chose to keep a low-profile when doing charitable work around the world. That was even though she and her husband worked as equals heading the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

But Gates says as her children grew, she found more of a need to speak for herself.

“I realized I was telling our kids, in particular, our oldest daughter, our son and our third child that they should use their voice in the world,” she said. “And I realized if I'm telling my girls that I'm not role modeling that, then I'm not really living my values."

Gates has just published her first book, and she's currently on a nine-city tour discussing how empowering women change the world.