Dec. 1, 2011. The President with Malia and the First Lady with Sasha wait backstage before the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Born January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, Michelle Obama attended Princeton University, graduating cum laude in 1985 with a B.A. in sociology. She went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1988 and began her law career at a Chicago law firm where she met husband Barack Obama (now the 44th President of the United States); they married in 1992 and have 2 kids.

Since becoming first lady in January of 2009, Michelle Obama has been anywhere but in the sidelines. Clearly, she knows how to hold her own, from interesting and highly scrutinized fashion choices, to the issues she focuses on as First Lady and everything in between. Seeing her dancing, jumping hoops, giving warm hugs and laughing heartily is an all too familiar sight these days. Passionate, smart and loving,  Michelle Obama is at the core a family person, deeply interested in her unit and that of others. She champions causes that move her and that she feels strongly about, which are also very much in line with husband Barack Obama’s agenda as President … issues which she believes not only have national implications, but international ones as well.

Childhood Obesity

According to the CDC, Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the United States in the past 30 years. In 2008, more than one third of children (aged 6–11 years) and adolescents (12–19 years) were overweight or obese. Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer ( including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma), and osteoarthritis.

It’s no wonder Michelle Obama continues to focus on this problem. ”Obesity in this country is nothing less than a public health crisis. It’s threatening our children, it’s threatening our families and, more importantly, it’s threatening the future of this nation,” she said back in January 2010 just before launching a national campaign against childhood obesity.

Mrs Obama’s goal has primarily been to educate parents and children on the importance of healthy eating and to make healthy foods accessible and affordable even in low income neighborhoods. “If people can have the opportunity to go into a nice, good-looking grocery store and buy a head of lettuce and maybe a prepackaged roasted chicken dinner, they’ll do it if it’s affordable,” she told Reader’s Digest in a Dec. 2011.

The first lady has actively led campaigns for healthy choices and lifestyles by encouraging gardening (which she has taken up herself, hence the name ‘Veggie-Gardener-in-Chief’), joining forces with Walmart and applauding food chains like McDonald’s for making healthy changes to their menus.

Military Families

Mrs Obama believes most countries don’t paid enough attention to military families. The first lady admits to not knowing much about their needs before she began meeting military wives in roundtable discussions while on the campaign trail with husband then presidential candidate. “Their challenges – all the same issues that civilian families were dealing with, but with the added stress of multiple deployments and frequent moves – were things I knew nothing about, because I don’t come from a military family. And my thought was, well if I don’t know, others don’t know either.”

She has become that voice about the sacrifices and struggles of men and women in uniform; raising awareness on how the community can help, unemployment challenges, mental health issues in these families especially post traumatic stress disorder and the impact of deployment on marriages and on kids especially those who loss a parent. “Just making it a part of the conversation of this country and not pretending that it doesn’t exist could help. And the hope is that military families and our service members will help us as a nation to deepen our understanding of mental health generally, that the gains that we can hopefully make here will carry on to the broader population.”

Mrs Obama works closely with wife of Vice President Biden, Dr Jill whose son is a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard and has served in Iraq.

According to Veterans Groups, the team of Michelle Obama and Jill Biden has organized and attended more events for and with military veterans and their families than any previous first lady. “Certainly other first ladies and presidents have taken an interest, but to make supporting military families [a priority], and not just to make it one of the things you do, this is a game-changer,” Joyce Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association.

Sean O’Keefe, the former Navy secretary and NASA administrator recently said, “Obama has raised the visibility of the challenges confronted by the families of military service members’ frequent relocation, psychological impact of children often raised by single parents due to long deployments, higher incidents of alcohol and drug abuse, and the often difficult access to healthcare.”

Family

How does the first couple juggle work and family? At the Obama home, the children come first; Mrs Obama told Reader’s Digest that she and the president’s main responsibility as parents is to retain as much normalcy around the their two girls as possible including attending PTO meetings, going on family trips and discipline.

• Eating habits: “My job is to make sure my kids have healthy habits and understand the choices that they need to make. But their taste buds are no different from any other kids’.”

• Core family values: “We have to prepare them for life beyond the White House, and that means chores, responsibilities, treating people with dignity and respect, and being mindful of elders and polite and kind to others. These values are values that we want them to have when they are old and gray.”

• About her mother, Marian, the first mother-in-law ever to take on full-time residence in the White House: “I just walk up to her [mom] room and plop down on the couch, and then I vent. And she listens, and she tells me to get up and get it together, and I do…. she’s always been a wonderful sounding board – objective and no-nonsense, common sense. She will tell you the truth. She doesn’t mince words, but her love is unconditional. These are the values I cherish most in her.”

A lawyer, city administrator, community worker, mother, and committed wife, Michelle Obama has been described as a woman who knows what’s in her heart, a woman who is comfortable with who she is, and one who is unafraid to voice her thoughts. This first African American Fist Lady continues to inspire women everywhere to follow their hearts and be themselves. Quote of the day, “I am not interested in being anyone but Michelle Obama” on Oprah.

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