Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama was the former First Lady of the United States who during her eight years in White House was a passionate advocate for women, LGBT rights, children's nutrition, healthy eating, and a various other important causes. Born and raised as Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on the South Side of Chicago, Obama was a gifted student throughout grade school. When it came time to enter high school Obama attended Whitney Young in Chicago, the city's first magnet school, and continued to excel academically. When it was time to decide on a college, Obama saw the decision as a no-brainer. Her older brother Craig was already attending Princeton University, so the teenage Michelle decided to follow in her brother's footsteps. She majored in sociology while attending Princeton, while minoring in African-American studies, and graduated cum laude in 1985. After graduating from Princeton, Obama went on to Harvard Law School, where she would go on to earn her law degree in 1988. Obama returned to Chicago after Harvard and accepted a position as an associate attorney at the high profile law firm Sidley Austin. It was while working at the prestigious law firm that the then Michelle Robinson was asked out by a handsome young summer associate named Barack Obama. The couple went to see Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" (1989) for their first date and immediately became smitten with one another. Their relationship grew intense rather quickly and on October 3, 1992 they were married. The couple would go on to have two children, Sasha and Malia, and Michelle would prove to be her husband's most trusted supporter throughout his historic run in becoming the United States' first African-American president. Michelle Obama continued working at Sidley Austin throughout the early 90s but in 1996 she became the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago. She stayed at the position until 2002 when she accepted a position as the Vice President for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. By May of 2007, however, with her husband's first presidential campaign a few months old, Obama decided to cut back her professional duties to focus on campaigning with her husband. Although the strain of campaigning proved exhausting at times, Michelle persevered and on January 20, 2009 she made history by becoming the first African-American First Lady in United States history. Upon entering the White House Michelle Obama decided to focus her attention on encouraging children to eat healthy, thus reversing the trend of child obesity. She called this initiative "Let's Move!" which was first launched in January of 2010. When her husband won a second term in 2012 Obama continued to focus on issues that were important to her, including healthy eating, women's rights, and the rights of the LGBT community. Upon leaving the White House in early 2017, Obama spent her days traveling the country with her husband, occasionally speaking out on various issues, including the lack of diversity in American politics, and writing her memoirs. Her memoirs, titled Becoming, chronicled her life and eight years as First Lady. Becoming was released on November 13, 2018.