Tag: incredible

The incredible life of Melinda Gates — one of the world’s richest and most powerful women

Melinda Gates

Melinda Gates is best known as Bill’s other half. Some may even say she’s his better half.

Melinda — who shares an estimated fortune of $89.4 billion with her husband — has become one of the most powerful female philanthropists in the world as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she helmed virtually on her own for the first six years of operation.

In addition to the pair’s education and healthcare initiatives, Melinda takes a personal interest in women’s issues around the world. At the forefront of her agenda is expanding the availability of contraception and, most recently, bringing awareness to the concept of time poverty — the notion that hours of daily unpaid work like household chores end up “robbing women of their potential.”

“When you invest in women, you invest in the people who invest in everybody else,” she wrote in a Fortune article last year outlining the benefits of hiring women in business. “And if you gradually start to take action, it won’t be long before you realize that investing in women is good for your mind, good for your soul, and good for your business.”

On International Women’s Day, a celebration of women’s progress and achievements, here’s a look at the incredible force that is Melinda Gates.

SEE ALSO: Melinda Gates reveals the best way for cash-strapped 20-somethings to make a big impact in philanthropy

DON’T MISS: The Bill Gates Interview

Melinda Gates (neè French) grew up in Dallas, Texas, with her parents — a stay-at-home mother and an aerospace-engineer father — and her three siblings. The family belonged to the local Roman Catholic parish.

Source: Telegraph

The Frenches were intent on sending all four of their children to college, so Melinda’s father started a side business for rental properties. “We would help him run the business and keep the books,” she said. “We saw money coming in and money going out.”

Source: Fortune

Melinda was valedictorian and head of the drill team at her high school, Ursuline Academy of Dallas. In 2007, the Gates Foundation donated $7 million to Ursuline for the construction of The French Family Science, Math, and Technology Center — a 70,000 sq. ft. LEED Gold certified laboratory and classroom building.

Source: Ursuline Dallas, Marie Claire

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The incredible rise of billionaire Donald Bren, the richest real estate developer in America

Donald Bren

California native Donald Bren is the wealthiest real estate developer in America, according to our list of the 50 richest people on earth, produced in collaboration with Wealth-X.

The mogul has an estimated net worth of $17 billion that comes primarily from his development and property investments in Southern California.

Bren’s privately-held real estate investment company, Irvine Company, has a portfolio of properties that exceeds 110 million square feet and includes office buildings, apartments, marinas, and hotels, most of which is located in picturesque Orange County.

At 83 years old, the former US Marine is still running the show as chairman of Irvine Company — here’s the story behind his success.

SEE ALSO: The 29 richest people in America

AND: How IKEA creator Ingvar Kamprad built the world’s largest furniture retailer — and a $39 billion fortune

Donald Bren was born in Los Angeles in 1932. His father, a movie producer, and his mother, a patron of the performing arts, divorced when he was 10. His father remarried to an actress and his mother to a well-off industrialist.

Sources: Wealth-XFortune

Bren and his brother attended Beverly Hills High School and spent their summers working as carpenters for their dad’s real estate development business. A key lesson he learned from his father: “When you hold property over the long term, you’re able to create better values and you have something tangible to show for it,” Bren told the Los Angeles Times in 2011.

Sources: Fortune, Los Angeles Times

 

Bren earned a partial athletic scholarship to the University of Washington for skiing. He was reportedly a stylish skier and an avid competitor who was set to go to the 1956 Olympics but couldn’t participate because of a broken ankle.

Source: Fortune

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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40 Incredible Peyton Manning Quotes

Peyton Manning is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. He has an incredible list of records including a five-time league Most Valuable Player award, holds the most career touchdowns, and most passing yards. Manning’s playing career and statistics have ranked him among the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Here are 40 incredible Peyton Manning quotes: 1. “It’s not wanting to win that makes you a winner; it’s refusing to fail.” – Peyton Manning 2. “Remind your critics when they say you don’t have the expertise or experience to do something that an amateur built the ark and the experts built the titanic.” – Peyton Manning 3. “If you work hard and you play well, all those critics quiet themselves pretty quickly.” – Peyton Manning 4. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” – Peyton Manning 5. “Anyone who waits for someone else to make a change automatically becomes a follower.” – Peyton Manning 6. “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” – Peyton Manning 7. “Life is about choices. You ask the questions and you listen to the answers. Then you listen to your heart.” – Peyton Manning 8. “We’ve been working a long time for this and we want to accomplish our ultimate goal. We know what it takes.” – Peyton Manning 9. “I’m not 23 anymore. But the defensive ends and linebackers chasing me are. If I had to chose between youth and experience, I’d take experience every time.” – Peyton Manning 10. “My faith doesn’t make me perfect, it makes me forgiven.” – Peyton Manning 11. “You’ve got to remember what your priorities are. When you’re playing, what you do on the field is the most important thing. “ – Peyton Manning 12. “I’m the best manning.” – Peyton Manning 13. “You hear about how many fourth quarter comebacks that a guy has and I think it means a guy screwed up in the first three quarters.” – Peyton Manning 14. “Everybody is going to be excited to play in a Super Bowl. When you still enjoy the preparation and the work part of it, I think you ought to be still doing that. I think as soon as I stop enjoying it, if I can’t produce, if I can’t help a team, that’s when I will stop playing.” – Peyton Manning 15th Peyton Manning Quote – “I pray every night, sometimes long prayers about a lot of things and a lot of people, but I don’t talk about it or brag about it because that’s between God and me, and I’m no better than anybody else in God’s sight.” – Peyton Manning 16. “I want to be out there every single snap, every single play.” – Peyton Manning 17. “If nothing else in life, I want to be true to the things I believe in, and quite simply, to what I’m all about. I know I’d better, because it seems whenever I take a false step or two I feel the consequences.” – Peyton Manning 18. “When you take a year off from football, you come back for all the enjoyable moments. When you’re not playing, you miss out on all the highs, but you also miss these disappointments. But I would rather be in the arena to be excited or be disappointed than not have a chance at all. That’s football. That’s why everybody plays it.” – Peyton Manning 19. “I think I could describe the perfect quarterback. Take a little piece of everybody. Take John Elway’s arm, Dan Marino’s release, maybe Troy Aikman’s drop-back, Brett Favre’s scrambling ability, Joe Montana’s two-minute poise and, naturally, my speed.” – Peyton Manning 20. “Imitation is obviously a great form of flattery.” – Peyton Manning     21. “I don’t want to retire. I still want to play.” – Peyton Manning 22. “I’ve been a Colt for almost all of my adult life, but I guess in life, and in sports, we all know nothing lasts forever. Times change, circumstances change, and that’s the reality of playing in the NFL.” – Peyton Manning 23. “When you go through a significant injury and have a major career change, you truly do go one year at a time, and you don’t look past what’s going on now, because you are not sure what’s going to happen. Tomorrow is not promised.” – Peyton Manning 24. “My dad was a class person on and off the field. That’s the person I want to be.” – Peyton Manning 25. “Some guys leave a place after a long time, and they’re bitter. Not me.” – Peyton Manning 26. “I’m very humbled and I’m very honored. I certainly think about how grateful I am for all the teammates and coached that I’ve played with and played for throughout my career.” – Peyton Manning 27. “Being there every week for my teammates is really important to me. It’s all about accountability. I hear stuff about the ‘toughest quarterback in the league’ and all that; what’s that mean?” – Peyton Manning 28th Peyton Manning Quote – “It goes without saying, winning against a good team in a hostile crowd on the road, it’s just an absolutely huge win.” – Peyton Manning 29. “Boy, do I hate to lose.” – Peyton Manning 30. “When people are watching you, it makes you think twice about what you do, and the things you say, and the people you hang around with.” – Peyton Manning 31. “Some people have this impression of me: ‘Boy, he’s always so serious on the field. Football. Football. Football.’” – Peyton Manning 32. “My job is to play well offensively and help my team score points. So I feel very responsible every time we lose a game.” – Peyton Manning 33. “I’m proud to be Archie’s son. Being a quarterback, I had my mentor and hero living in the same house.” – Peyton Manning 34. “I guess, to tell you the truth, I’ve never had much of a desire to grow facial hair. I think I’ve managed to play quarterback just fine without a mustache.” – Peyton Manning 35. “I have to leave the games now if the announcer says something I don’t agree with. I’m thinking, ‘Peyton, it is not healthy to be all worked up before a game.’” – Peyton Manning 36. “I’ve been being asked about my legacy since I was about 25 years old. I’m not sure you can have a legacy when you’re 25 years old. Even 37. I’d like to have to be, like, 70 to have a legacy. I’m not even 100 percent sure what the word even means.” – Peyton Manning 37. “I’ve never left the field saying, ‘I could’ve done more to get ready,’ and that gives me peace of mind.” – Peyton Manning 38. “My dad told us up front, ‘Guys, if you want to play sports, go ahead, but it’s your decision.’” – Peyton Manning 39. “I would like to think I will be a guy who knows when it’s time to stop. I don’t want to be a guy who hung on and on. I do not have a goal in mind of a year or a statistic.” – Peyton Manning 40. “I was never on a mission to be an NFL quarterback. I wanted to be a good high school player, and I worked hard at that. That made me good enough to play in college and then I wanted to be a good college quarterback. During college I played well enough to make it into the NFL. I never took it for granted and really wanted to play hard at each level and I have always had a lot of fun doing what I wanted to do.”            – Peyton Manning What is your favorite thing about Peyton Manning? Leave your comment in the comment section below.

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