Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Obama[1] (née Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to former president Barack Obama.
"First Lady Michelle Obama" redirects here. For the painting, see First Lady Michelle Obama (painting).
Michelle Obama
- Fraser Robinson III (father)
- Marian Shields (mother)
- Obama family (by marriage)
- Craig Robinson (brother)
Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. In her early legal career, she worked at the law firm Sidley Austin where she met her future husband. She subsequently worked in nonprofits and as the associate dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago. Later she served as vice president for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Michelle married Barack in 1992 and they have two daughters.
Obama campaigned for her husband's presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She has subsequently delivered speeches at the 2012, 2016, and 2020 conventions. As first lady, Obama served as a role model for women and worked as an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity, and healthy eating. She supported American designers and was considered a fashion icon.[2][3] Obama was the first African-American woman to serve as first lady.
After her husband's presidency, Obama's influence has remained high. In 2020, she topped Gallup's poll of the most admired woman in America for the third year running.[4]
Career
Following law school, Obama became an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met her future husband Barack. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property law.[6] She continues to hold her law license, but as she no longer needs it for her work, she has kept it on a voluntary inactive status since 1993.[79][80]
In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became executive director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies.[29] She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood twelve years after she had left.[23] Obama later said she had never been happier in her life prior to working "to build Public Allies".[81]
In 1996, Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the university's Community Service Center.[82] In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as vice president for Community and External Affairs.[83]
She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign of 2008, but cut back to part-time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election.[84] She subsequently took a leave of absence from her job.[85]
According to the couple's 2006 income tax return, her salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income was $991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.[86]
Obama served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),[87] a major Wal-Mart supplier from shortly after her husband was seated in the Senate until she cut ties shortly after her husband announced his candidacy for the presidency; he criticized Wal-Mart labor policies at an AFL–CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007.[88] She also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.[89]
In 2021, the former first lady announced that she has been "moving toward retirement".[90] Though she continues to be active in political campaigns, the former first lady has said she is reducing the amount of work to spend more time with her husband.[90]
Barack Obama political campaigns
Early campaigns
During an interview in 1996, Michelle Obama acknowledged there was a "strong possibility" her husband would begin a political career, but said she was "wary" of the process. She knew it meant their lives would be subject to scrutiny and she was intensely private.[91]
Although she campaigned on her husband's behalf since early in his political career by handshaking and fund-raising, she did not relish the activity at first. When she campaigned during her husband's 2000 run for United States House of Representatives, her boss at the University of Chicago asked if there was any single thing about campaigning that she enjoyed; after some thought, she replied that visiting so many living rooms had given her some new decorating ideas.[92][93] Obama opposed her husband's run for the congressional seat, and, after his defeat, she preferred he tend to the financial needs of the family in what she deemed a more practical way.[94]