MacKenzie Scott


MacKenzie Scott is an American novelist and venture philanthropist. She has served as the executive director of Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization she founded, since 2014.
Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Scott graduated from Princeton University in 1992 where she studied under writer Toni Morrison. After graduating, she worked for D. E. Shaw, a quantitative hedge fund in New York, as an administrative assistant from 1992 to 1994. Scott wrote her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, eleven years later in 2005 for which she won an American Book Award in 2006.
Scott was married to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, from 1993 to 2019. Their divorce made her the third-wealthiest woman in the world and one of the wealthiest people overall by April 2019. In June 2020, it was revealed by Forbes magazine that she is the 22nd richest person in the world, largely due to her $38 billion divorce settlement. A month later, she signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give at least half of her wealth to charity. As of July 29, 2020, Scott was ranked 22nd-richest person in the world by Forbes with a net worth estimated at $36 billion.

Early life and career

MacKenzie Scott Tuttle was born on April 7, 1970, in San Francisco, California. Her father was a financial planner. In 1988, she graduated from Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. Tuttle earned her bachelor's degree in English at Princeton University with highest honors in 1992. She studied under writer Toni Morrison, who said Tuttle was "one of the best students I've ever had" in her creative writing classes.
After graduating, she worked for D. E. Shaw, a quantitative hedge fund in New York, as an administrative assistant from 1992 to 1994. There, she worked for Jeff Bezos, then a senior vice-president, as a research associate. MacKenzie wrote her debut novel, The Testing of Luther Albright, eleven years later in 2005 for which she won an American Book Award in 2006. Her second novel, Traps, was published in 2013.
In 2014, MacKenzie founded Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization, where she serves as executive director.
On July 13, 2020, Mackenzie Scott became the richest woman in the world with a net worth of US$64.5 Billion, ahead of Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, who had a net worth of US$64.4 Billion.

Personal life

MacKenzie was married to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, from 1993 to 2019. She met him while working as his assistant at D. E. Shaw in 1992; after three months of dating in New York they married and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1994. They have four children: three sons and one daughter adopted from China. Their communal property divorce in 2019 left MacKenzie with US$35.6 billion in Amazon stock while her ex-husband retained 75% of the couple's Amazon stock. She became the third-wealthiest woman in the world and one of the wealthiest people overall in April 2019. Mackenzie kept her last name instead of reverting to her maiden name, Tuttle, but later began going by the name MacKenzie Scott, with the surname derived from her middle name.

Awards

Scott is the author of The Testing of Luther Albright, a debut novel, which in 2006 won an American Book Award.

Philanthropy

In May 2019, she signed the Giving Pledge, a charitable giving campaign in which she willingly committed to give away most her wealth to charity over her lifetime or in her will, though her pledge is legally non-binding. Within a year of joining the Giving Pledge, Scott had donated $1.7 billion to 116 non-profit organizations, with a focus on racial equity, LGBTQ+ equity, democracy, and climate change.

Books

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