Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago by her mother and father, along with her older brother Craig. She went on to attend college at Princeton University, where she majored in sociology. After college, she attended Harvard Law School and, after graduating, got a job at a corporate law firm in Chicago called Sidley & Austin. At Sidley, she was assigned to mentor a summer associate, Barack Obama, who worked for Sidley between his first and second years at Harvard Law. The two quickly began dating and married after Barack graduated from law school. Michelle then quit her job at Sidley, looking for something more fulfilling, and had a string of jobs working with the South Side community—first at City Hall, then at an organization called Public Allies, and then at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Michelle and Barack had two daughters, Malia and Sasha, in 1998 and 2001. Barack quickly became involved in politics, rising from Illinois State Senator to United States Senator, and then becoming the forty-fourth president of the United States. Barack was president from 2008 to 2016, and Michelle and her family moved to the White House with him. During her time as First Lady, Michelle worked on initiatives called Let’s Move! (a children’s health initiative), Joining Forces (which focuses on supporting military families), and Let Girls Learn (supporting girls’ education worldwide), and a new White House garden. Michelle and her family currently live in Washington, D.C.