PERSON: Michelle Obama

The White House

First Lady of the United States

Michelle Obama was born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on January 17, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. She would later become a lawyer, Chicago city administrator, community outreach worker and — as the wife of U.S. President Barack Obama — the United States’ first lady.<br> <br> Michelle was raised on Chicago’s South Side in a one-bedroom apartment. Her father, Fraser Robinson, was a city pump operator and a Democratic precinct captain. Her mother, Marian, was a Spiegel’s secretary who later stayed home to raise Michelle and her older brother, Craig. The family has been described as a close-knit one that shared family meals, read and played games together.<br> <br> Craig and Michelle, 21 months apart in age, were often mistaken for twins. The siblings also shared close quarters—they slept in the living room with a sheet serving as their makeshift room divider. Both children were raised with an emphasis on education. The brother and sister learned to read at home by the age of 4, and both skipped second grade.<br> <br> By sixth grade, Michelle was attending gifted classes, where she learned French and took accelerated courses. She then went on to attend the city’s first magnet high school for gifted children, where, among other activities, she served as the student government treasurer. <br> <br> Michelle graduated in 1981 from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago’s West Loop as class salutatorian. After high school, she followed her brother to Princeton University, graduating cum laude in 1985 with a B.A. in Sociology. She went on to earn a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988, where she took part in demonstrations demanding more minority students and professors.<br> <br> Following law school, Michelle worked as an associate in the Chicago branch of the law firm Sidley Austin in the area of marketing and intellectual property. There, in 1989, she met her future husband, Barack Obama.<br> <br> Michelle soon left her job to launch a career in public service, serving as an assistant to Mayor Daley and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago.<br> <br> In 1993, she became executive director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a nonprofit leadership-training program that helped young adults develop skills for future careers in the public sector.<br> <br> Michelle joined the University of Chicago in 1996 as associate dean of student services, developing the university’s first community-service program. She then worked for the University of Chicago Hospitals beginning in 2002, as executive director of community relations and external affairs.<br> <br> In May 2005, she was appointed vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she continued to work part-time until shortly before her husband’s inauguration as president. She serves as a board member for the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs.<br> <br> — biography.com