Michelle Obama

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, where she served as student council treasurer, joined the National Honor Society, and graduated as salutatorian in 1981. She then studied sociology and African American studies at Princeton University, graduating cum laude in 1985 after completing a senior thesis titled “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.”

She earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1988 and began her legal career at Sidley & Austin in Chicago, specializing in intellectual property and entertainment law. While at the firm, she was assigned to mentor summer associate Barack Obama. They married in 1992.

Obama later moved from corporate law into public service. She worked for Chicago city government, founded the Chicago branch of Public Allies in 1993, and served as its executive director. In 1996, she became associate dean of student services at the University of Chicago, where she helped develop community outreach programs. She later held executive positions at the University of Chicago Hospitals, becoming vice president of community and external affairs in 2005.

Obama supported Barack Obama’s political campaigns as he moved from the Illinois Senate to the U.S. Senate and then sought the presidency. During the 2008 presidential campaign, she took leave from her University of Chicago position and became an increasingly prominent speaker at campaign events. She wrote her own speeches and often discussed family life, race, education, and the American Dream.

Her public role expanded during the long Democratic primary campaign, where campaign aides referred to her as “the closer” because of her ability to persuade undecided rally attendees. At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, her brother Craig Robinson introduced her before she delivered a widely praised address about her family and Chicago roots.

Obama also campaigned for her husband’s reelection in 2012 and supported Democratic candidates during the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. In 2016, she endorsed Hillary Clinton and delivered a prominent speech at the Democratic National Convention, including the line, “When they go low, we go high.”

As first lady, Obama pursued initiatives centered on health, education, military families, and public service. Her principal health campaign, Let’s Move!, encouraged physical activity and healthier eating while supporting improvements to school meals. In 2009, she planted a vegetable garden on the White House South Lawn, the first White House vegetable garden since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden. Produce from the garden was used by the White House kitchen and donated to Miriam’s Kitchen, a Washington organization serving people experiencing homelessness.

Obama worked with Jill Biden to launch Joining Forces, which supported service members, veterans, and their families through efforts involving employment, education, and wellness. Her Reach Higher initiative encouraged students to pursue education beyond high school, while Let Girls Learn promoted educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world. She also advocated for military families, working women, nutrition, physical activity, and the arts.

Her time in the White House included cultural and design projects as well. The Obamas helped modernize the State Dining Room and Family Dining Room and added contemporary works to the White House collection, including Resurrection by Alma Thomas, the first painting by a Black woman acquired for the collection. Obama also drew sustained attention for her fashion choices and became the first first lady to announce the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, when Argo won in 2013.

After leaving the White House, Obama continued public work involving education, health, military families, and voter participation. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2022 and remained active through speeches, public appearances, and civic initiatives. Her media work included the 2020 podcast The Michelle Obama Podcast and the Audible series Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, which grew out of her 2022 book tour.

Obama’s memoir Becoming was published in 2018 and became the basis for the Netflix documentary Becoming, released in 2020. She received a Grammy Award for the audiobook recording of Becoming in 2020. Her second book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, appeared in 2022, and she published The Look, a book about the evolution of her personal style, in 2025.

She also expanded into television and production. In 2021, she presented and executive produced the Netflix children’s cooking series Waffles + Mochi. Through Higher Ground, the production company associated with Barack Obama, she produced the documentary Crip Camp and the biographical drama Rustin. In 2023, she joined Bruce Springsteen onstage in Barcelona to provide backing vocals and tambourine on “Glory Days.”