Michelle Obama: Snapshot

Name
Michelle Obama
Date of Birth
January 17, 1964
Birth Place
Chicago, Ill.
As the toned-armed wife of the 44th President of the United States, Michelle Obama has made an indelible impression with her signature style and equally impressive resumé. But she says first and foremost, she is "Mom in Chief" to daughters Malia and Sasha.

A product of the South Side of Chicago, Michelle (née Robinson) graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School before mentoring her future husband Barack Obama at a Chicago law firm. The couple, with their two young daughters, went on to conquer U.S. politics as the first African American First Family.

Dubbed "The First Lady the World's Been Waiting For" by Vogue, Michelle says her intention as First Lady is to open up the White House, help working women, like herself, balance career and family, and end childhood obesity with her Let's Move! initiative.

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Michelle Obama: Five Fun Facts

  1. Barack Obama said if he had to run against his wife Michelle Obama, he'd lose. "She is smart, funny and thoroughly charming ...She would beat me without too much difficulty."
  2. Both Alicia Keys and Tyra Banks posed as Michelle Obama in fashion photo shoots. "With Barack Obama, his becoming President is them becoming President because Michelle was there from the beginning," Banks said of her admiration for the First Lady. "Without Michelle, he wouldn't be there."
  3. On the campaign trail, Michelle Obama joked that her husband Barack snores and has bad breath in the morning.
  4. Michelle Obama didn't always want to be a lawyer. "I wanted to be a pediatrician," she told Vogue, "until I realized science wasn't much fun."
  5. Barack Obama credits Stevie Wonder with helping him woo Michelle. "I think it's fair to say that had I not been a Stevie Wonder fan, Michelle might not have dated me," he said. "We might not have married. The fact that we agreed on Stevie was part of the essence of our courtship."

Michelle Obama: Biography

1964

Michelle Obama

January 17

Humble Beginnings

Fraser and Marian Robinson welcome their second child, Michelle LaVaughn. Fraser, a pump operator (who dies of complications from multiple sclerosis in 1990), and Marian, a stay at home mother, raise Michelle and her brother Craig in their South Side Chicago home. "There's nothing magical about my background," she tells Vogue in 2007. Adding to Essence in 2009, "I always felt that my father and my mother were unconditionally rooting for me."

1981

Michelle Obama

The Overachiever

Michelle joins Craig (a star basketball player) at Princeton University, before graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988. Working as a lawyer at a Chicago firm, she mentors summer associate Barack Obama in 1989. Michelle eventually falls for the Hawaii-bred community organizer turned lawyer, with whom she attends meetings in church basements. "He connected with me and everyone in that church basement ...The authenticity you see is real, and that's why I fell in love with him," she tells Essence.

1992

Michelle Obama

October 03

Becoming an Obama

After dating for three years, Michelle and Barack tie the knot. The bride and groom choose Stevie Wonder's "You and I" for their first dance, and of their vows, Michelle says: "Barack didn't pledge riches, only a life that would be interesting. On that promise he delivered."

Read More on Michelle Obama's Life

Photo Credits

Top Left: The White House

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library; Courtesy Obama Family; Obama For America

Edited by Janet Mock and Julia Wang

Michelle Obama

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