Updated
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- Phoebe Gates, 22, is the youngest daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates.
- She has over 240,000 followers on TikTok, where she posts about her life and passions.
- The Stanford graduate is eyeing a career in fashion with a platform called Phia.
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As one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates is a household name, and now we’re getting to know his youngest daughter, 22-year-old Phoebe, too.
Through her social-media pages, Phoebe Gates has been sharing her life with her hundreds of thousands of followers, from her stances on national issues to videos of bubble-tea dates with her dad.
With parents like Bill and Melinda Gates, it’s no surprise that she appears to be an overachiever: In June, she graduated from Stanford University after wrapping up her human biology degree in three years. She’s already teased the release of her sustainable fashion tech platform, attended fashion weeks around the globe, and become an outspoken social activist. Oh, and last the world heard, she’s dating Paul McCartney’s grandson.
Here’s what we know about her life and interests based on what she’s shared online.
Phoebe Gates is the youngest daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates.
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Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, who married in 1994 and divorced in 2021, have three children: Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22. The children all went to Seattle’s Lakeside School, a private high school their father also attended, and are now on different trajectories.
Jennifer is a decorated equestrian who graduated from medical school in May, while Rory is a congressional analyst, according to a 2023 Puck report. While her brother stays out of the spotlight, Phoebe is sharing her life online, and has ambitions in the fashion industry.
The three Gates children will inherit at least some of their parents’ wealth: Bill Gates has said he plans to leave them “only” $10 million each.
“I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them,” Gates said in a 2013 Reddit “Ask Me Anything.” “Warren Buffett was part of an article in Fortune talking about this in 1986 before I met him, and it made me think about it and decide he was right.”
Today, nearly five decades after cofounding Microsoft, Bill Gates has an estimated fortune of $139 billion, Forbes reported in September. He left Microsoft’s board in 2020 — although is still reportedly “intimately involved” at the company — and has remained focused on the Gates Foundation, which he once ran with French Gates. She also became a billionaire following their divorce.
Gates graduated from Stanford University in June, and she has previously vlogged about her college life.
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While studying at Stanford, Gates showcased her dorm room and filmed vlog-style updates about her life at college. In one TikTok posted in December 2022, she filmed herself riding a bike to a stats class, and later showed herself making a very student-esque pasta dish for dinner.
In June 2024, she graduated after just three years, telling Nylon, “I knew I had to make it happen if I could, because I wanted to watch my mother deliver this year’s commencement speech as a graduate. I can’t think of a better ending!”
Gates blogged her graduation day with the outlet, sharing that she celebrated the milestone with a party attended by her mom, dad, and boyfriend Arthur Donald, the 25-year-old grandson of Paul McCartney.
“So grateful to have my parents by my side on this day,” she wrote.
She is passionate about sustainable fashion and is pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities in the industry with her own platform, Phia.
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On TikTok, Gates has previously posted about attending fashion week in Copenhagen and New York. She has also shared informational clips about sustainable fashion and promoted buying secondhand clothes.
In August 2023, Vogue reported that Gates is co-launching her own fashion platform, called Phia, with her fellow Stanford student and roommate Sophia Kianni (pictured above left).
That month, the duo landed a partnership with Stella McCartney and her namesake fashion house, designing a capsule collection of handbags in honor of the US Open’s 50th anniversary.
Gates told Vogue, “Stella has been able to build this empire while still holding onto her values. We reached out many times, and eventually, she really took us under her wing and has since been an advisor to us as we build out this platform.”
Kianni also added, “We want to identify everyone who is doing incredible things, learn from them, and see how we can accelerate progress together.”
As of September 2024, the company has upward of 43,000 followers on Instagram with the bio, “The smartest way to shop. Follow to find out.”
So far, Phia has shared moodboards, outfit inspiration carousels, and secondhand fashion finds.