To celebrate turning 60, Melinda French Gates sat down with iconic changemakers of all ages to talk about their biggest life transitions for a special series, “Moments That Make Us.” In this episode, she chats with soccer star Megan Rapinoe about retiring from professional sports, becoming an activist, and why it’s important to try to understand people who disagree with you.

Check out all of the conversations in this series:
Megan Rapinoe:    • Moments That Make Us: The Radical Emp...  
Reese Witherspoon:    • Moments That Make Us: Reese Witherspo...  
Ava DuVernay:    • Moments That Make Us: Ava DuVernay’s ...  
Michelle Obama:    • Moments That Make Us: Michelle Obama ...  
Oprah Winfrey & Gayle King:    • Moments That Make Us: How Friendship ...  
Billie Jean King:    • Moments That Make Us: Billie Jean Kin...  
& don’t miss the Trailer! :    • Introducing "Moments That Make Us" wi...  

In this episode:
• 0:40 – How the 30’s compare to the 20’s
• 2:05 – Navigating the transition from professional athlete to activist
o See more: https://en.as.com/soccer/meganrapino...
• 6:53 – Crafting the “no” button, being selective with your time, and how to know when to say “no” to something
• 10:03 – Megan getting into activism, coming into her consciousness, and the importance of believing others’ experiences
• 12:16 – Making the decision to publicly come out before the 2012 London Olympics
o See more: https://olympics.com/en/news/meganra...
• 15:53 – The importance of inclusive activism
• 17:26 – Finding hope and empathy in hard times, and injecting humanity into sensationalized news stories
• 20:25 – Learnings from travelling extensively
• 21:57 – Megan Rapinoe’s exposure to addiction in her family and how it informed her intersectional approach to activism
o See more: https://www.gq.com/story/rachaelrapi...
• 24:15 – Where courage comes from and Megan Rapinoe’s matriarchal family background
• 26:49 – The importance of joy and using it as a reward for struggle

Produced by Feee Films
Directed by Felicia Manning
Photography c/o Pivotal Ventures

Follow Melinda French Gates on:
Twitter/X: @melindagates
Facebook: @melindagates
LinkedIn: @melindagates
Instagram: @melindafrenchgates
YouTube: @melindafrenchgates

Follow Megan Rapinoe on:
Twitter/X: @mpinoe
Facebook: @mPinoe
Instagram: @mrapinoe
YouTube: @meganrapinoe