BLOGGER NOTE: All of the above are short extracts taken from the following article that appeared in the New York Times earlier this morning . . . This interview by David Gilles was condensed and edited by him for clarity.Laurene Powell Jobs Is Putting Her Own Dent in the Universe
An interview with the 35th-richest person in the world, who is funding efforts on immigration, education and independent media.
Before I could interview Laurene Powell Jobs, she wanted to interview me.
It was an unusual request, but not a particularly surprising one coming from Ms. Powell Jobs. Nearly a decade after the death of her husband, the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, she remains an intensely private person. . . When Mr. Jobs was alive, Ms. Powell Jobs stayed out of the public eye.
As Mr. Jobs was busy upending the personal technology industry, Ms. Powell Jobs founded College Track, which helps underprivileged youths get into college, and Emerson Collective, an umbrella organization for her philanthropic and business interests.
After Mr. Jobs died from cancer, in 2011, she spent several years out of public view. But more recently, Ms. Powell Jobs — the 35th-richest person in the world, worth some $27.5 billion — has begun to exert her influence.
> She acquired Pop-Up Magazine and major stakes in the Atlantic magazine and in Monumental Sports, which owns the Washington Wizards and Mystics basketball teams and the Washington Capitals hockey team.
> She is working with the former education secretary Arne Duncan to reduce gun violence in Chicago.
> At the Sundance Film Festival this year, a new documentary studio backed by Ms. Powell Jobs made a splash.
It’s a diverse set of concerns, and reflects her belief that issues like poverty, education, personal health and environmental justice are all interconnected.
“When you pull one thread, you get the whole tapestry,” she said.
“When you’re working in the social sector, you actually cannot make any lasting forward movement if you’re only focused on one thing.”
Ms. Powell Jobs, 56, is acting with a sense of urgency these days. She believes that President Trump’s statements and policies have unleashed dark forces that are tearing apart the very fabric of society. . ."
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About her husband Steve Jobs >
"One profound learning I took from him was that we don’t have to accept the world that we’re born into as something that is fixed and impermeable. When you zoom in, it’s just atoms just like us. And they move all the time. And through energy and force of will and intention and focus, we can actually change it. Move it."
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To what extent does the growing backlash against big philanthropy and billionaires inform your work?
"I think about it a lot.
It’s not right for individuals to accumulate a massive amount of wealth that’s equivalent to millions and millions of other people combined.
There’s nothing fair about that.
We saw that at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries with the Rockefellers and Carnegies and Mellons and Fords of the world.
That kind of accumulation of wealth is dangerous for a society.
It shouldn’t be this way.
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