Five Things You Never Knew About MacKenzie Scott, The Fourth Wealthiest Woman in the World!

Jeff Bezos is one of the richest men in the world. He has been in the spotlight as the founder of retail giant Amazon earned him a fortune of $196 billion. While he was always in the limelight, his former wife MacKenzie Bezos chose to stay away from the paparazzi. However, things have rapidly changed since then.

Mackenzie chose to keep her silence on the changing dynamics of their relationship status. The couple confirmed their split on Twitter recently. She has been languishing behind in the spotlight race. She is now the third richest woman in the world. Recently the number slipped down to number 4. But it just makes us wonder about this woman, who has it all but plans to give away her money to various charities. Let’s find out about this and more facts about this amazing woman.

The Novelist

Did you know that she is a writer and she started at a very young age? Yes, she was barely six when she found her passion for writing. You can read all about it on the author page of her 142 chapters book, The Book Worm.

She dabbled in creative writing at Princeton, and now her CV boasts of 2005’s critically-acclaimed book, The Testing of Luther Albright, which fetched her the American Book Award, and 2013’s Traps.

A Research Assistant to Morrison

Scott did have the experience to fall back upon as a research assistant to Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. She began working with her in 1992 for her novel Jazz. At that time, Scott was a Princeton student. Morrison showered heaps of praises on her, calling her one of the best students she ever had in her creative-writing classes. On more than one occasion, she has spoken about her complete belief in Scoot. She also helped her seek a literary agent.

Meeting Jeff Bezos

MacKenzie was one of the first people who Jeff interviewed for an administrative assistant position at the hedge fund company, D.E. Shaw & Co. in New York. MacKenzie took on the job as a side hustle to support her writer’s profession.  She was drawn to the charismatic Jeff. It was his laugh that drew her to him. Their engagement and marriage were in 1993, and they were together until 2019.

Contribution to Amazon’s Success

After they moved to Seattle in 1994 to kickstart the business, MacKenzie worked as one of Amazon’s first accountants. Her contribution to the company was immense as she helped ship some of their early orders.

And a few sources suggest that she even helped find a name for the then-fledgling company. However, she stepped back from the spotlight as the company started finding its feet. And that helped her once again focus on her first love, writing.

Her Philanthropical Side

She has a philanthropic side to her, a pretty pronounced one at that. She has donated a whopping $1.7 billion to 116 organizations, extending her help to companies that hold interest to her. Whether it is racial justice to the cause of LGBTQ equality or even something that is a global concern such as climate change, all this piques her interest, and she wants to do something for the same.

She has extended her help primarily to established nonprofits. Scott has a reason for the same. She chooses nonprofit organizations famous for their leadership’s track record of effective management and their impact in their respective arena. The larger chunk of grants, $586.7 million — went to organizations that focused on racial equity, an issue that has been snowballing recently in the past few months. She also worked towards bringing about economic mobility ($399.5 million), public health, gender equity, and global development, and more.

Marriage to Dan Jewett

In March of 2021, Scott walked down the aisle to Dan Jewett, a science teacher who shared a similar passion and signed on the dotted line of Scott’s Giving Pledge commitment. He even wrote a letter where he mentioned that he plans to give away most of his wealth accumulated during his lifetime.

He also wrote that he drew inspiration from one of the most generous persons he has ever met. And that he believes he ought to help people with their wealth. Indeed, they share a common vision, and their commitment to them will truly make the world a better place to live in.

There’s more to Mckenzie than meets the eye. We wish her all the luck in all her future endeavors.