Phoebe Gates, the youngest daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates, is celebrating a major career milestone that’s set to bring her into the spotlight.
The 22-year-old has teamed up with Sophia Kianni and Tay Nakamoto for a new episode of the Sticking With Style podcast. This installment features the trio offering expert tips to help students upgrade their dorm rooms for the fall 2025 semester.
The collaboration is part of an endorsement deal with Command Brand – a clue that Phoebe may be transitioning into the realm of social media influencing.
Phoebe's background
The Microsoft co-founder's daughter studied Human Biology at California's Stanford University before venturing into the fashion realm. Phoebe launched an AI-powered fashion app called Phia with her former Stanford University roommate, Sophia. The app is designed to help shoppers compare prices for items across different sites.
However, her famous father was initially hesitant about the pursuit when Phoebe wanted to drop out of school. "I remember even when we wanted to start the company, him being like, ''Are you sure you want to do this?'" said Phoebe on The Burnouts podcast.
"Because both of my siblings were incredibly intelligent and took very typical career paths – my brother's a genius, my sister has two kids and a horse-back riding career and is in residency [as a Junior Pediatrician] – but there wasn't this adverse risk of failure."
She continued: "So my parents were really cautious when I was like, ''I want to do Stanford abroad and do this remotely and finish up my degree and do the start-up.'
"They were very much like, ''You need to finish your degree. You don't just get to drop out and [start] a company.' Which is so funny because my dad literally did that – that's like the reason I'm able to go to Stanford, have my tuition paid."
Pressure
During an episode of her podcast The Burnouts, Phoebe admitted to the pressure she felt at college due to her father's renowned success. "I had so much insecurity and such a desire to prove myself at Stanford," she shared.
"I came in, I was like, ''I'm so privileged, I'm a nepo baby,' like I had so much insecurity around that. I feel it's so hard when you're a freshman in college because you have no experience. You have nothing."
However, Phoebe explained that she was initially "flat-out rejected" from a business class after her first pitch – Bluetooth tampons that offer women health status updates throughout their cycle.
"This was our first big failure of many, many, many," she said. "I don't think it's really a shocker that we got flat-out rejected from this class - they asked us, ''What problem does this solve? How would it make money?' We couldn't answer those questions."b