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Melinda French Gates explains why she’s endorsing Kamala Harris, talks new YouTube series and more
Philanthropist Melinda French Gates said she is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and announced a new YouTube series call “The Moments That Make Us,” which includes interviews with women from various generations, including Megan Rapinoe and “CBS Mornings'” co-host Gayle King.
French Gates, who said she has never before endorsed a candidate, said the likely Democratic nominee is the “right candidate, right now” in an interview on “CBS Mornings.”
“She has believed in women’s reproductive freedom from the beginning of her career, and that got rolled back under previous administrations. She knows what society is up against now. She’s for paid family medical leave. She’s for caregiving … She has always been outspoken on these topics, and I think she’s a woman of our time.”
On a personal level, she thinks about the next generation and her 16-month-old granddaughter while endorsing Harris.
“She will grow up, if Kamala is the president, saying, ‘I can be at the highest position in the land.’ Look what that says to young women, just like look what it said to young Black men when Barack Obama became president.”
For her YouTube series, French Gates, who earlier this year left the Gates Foundation that she helped to co-found 25 years ago, spoke with women that included Michelle Obama and Billie Jean King about managing change and growing older.
In one episode of her new series, she sat down with Oprah and King.
“To hear them really talk about their friendship over such a long period of time and what it’s meant in their careers and their lives just felt amazing and something I definitely want to share with the world.”
French Gates also noted that society has made a lot of progress.
“Somebody outed her (Billie Jean King) as a gay woman. It killed her endorsements,” French Gates said. “Megan Rapinoe at age 39, she got to decide when to come out.”
But the progress is not enough, fast enough, French Gates expressed, adding that she thinks society will eventually get there.
“To see their social activism over decades … It makes me excited about how this country has moved over time and these women have experienced it and been part of it.
As she turns 60 next month, French Gates expressed why she wanted to share these stories.
“Women’s stories matter and these women were all trailblazers in different ways in society. And we all, men and women, go through transitions in life,” she said. “I thought, these are women whose stories I’ve been lucky enough to see even a little bit up close and I wanted other people to know these big moments.”
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In Hollywood, a land known for marquees and famous signs, there’s probably no sign that’s more on the nose than the store Just Food For Dogs. There, four-legged customers sample today’s offerings, while their owners stock up on the food.
Sarah Rector and her French bulldog, Lulu, are buying her regular order, including beef with russet potato, and venison with squash. Rector says she feels better buying the store’s food for Lulu rather than commercial dog food: “I just know that she’s getting the best possible, like, ingredients and health and overall wellness.”
She and her husband don’t have children, yet, but they have another French bulldog, “so I feel like we have kids.”
It’s tempting to write this off as a trendy L.A. fad, but Just Food For Dogs president Carey Tischler says this store is here because of a permanent shift in the roughly $50 billion U.S. pet food industry. “The last year of research shows that 82% of families think of pets as family, or as children, and that’s up significantly,” he said.
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Joe Ovalle is Just Food’s guest experience manager. He says all of their pet food is approved by the USDA for human consumption. “It is human-grade food, something you and I could eat,” he said.
He sampled one of their recipes, for fish and sweet potato. “Oh my God, it’s like ceviche,” he smiled.
It may seem a bit indulgent, and can cost double the price of Kibbles, but some say that feeding our dogs natural food is what we should have been doing all along – and making it yourself can cost the same as buying food from the store.
“It’s about going back to what is biologically appropriate, that they ate for tens of thousands of years,” said pet nutritionist Christine Filardi. “They ate prey animals and table scraps. So, I’m just educating people on how to go back to what they ate for tens of thousands of years prior to commercial pet food.”
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Filardi is author of “Home Cooking For Your Dog,” a cookbook offering recipes with what she says are the three necessities: animal protein, a carb, and a veggie, as well as a few extravagant treats, like her bacon and cream cheese muffins.
Filardi says whether it’s store-bought or home-cooked fresh food, the results are the same: well-fed animals live longer, have cheaper vet bills, and are happier … which makes the owners happy, too.
“They take such good care of us,” she said. “We should take good care of them.”
RECIPE (FOR DOGS): Hearty Hamburgers
RECIPE (FOR DOGS): Friday Playdate Pizza
RECIPE (FOR DOGS): Bacon and Cream Cheese Muffins
RECIPE (FOR DOGS): Ground Turkey, Quinoa, and Carrots
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Story produced by John Goodwin. Editor: Joseph Frandino.
“Sunday Morning” 2024 “Food Issue” recipe index
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