The First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, turned
50 years last week Friday, and she did not hide her excitement as she took to
twitter to announce, “Excited to join Barack in the 50+ club today…
check out my @AARP card!”
Obviously, one of the first birthday gifts she received came from the
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), an open 50+ club.
As expected, the First Lady celebrated her milestone birthday in
presidential style at the White House on Saturday night – a day after
she clocked 50 – with a star-studded guest list, including Samuel L.
Jackson, Smokey Robinson and Magic Johnson.
With strict rules to wear comfortable shoes, Smokey Robinson, Samuel L.
Jackson, and Rachel Ray danced their butts off at The White House all
night.
But not to be outdone, one of the guest stars, Jennifer Hudson, also
performed at some point. The Oscar Winner and former American Idol took
to her Instagram page just after leaving the party where she allegedly
previewed some new music.
The top-secret event also boasted a performance by Beyonce Knowles, who
sang Michelle’s favourite songs. The party reportedly lasted till 2 a.m.
Michelle: A role model to young women
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is the wife of the 44th and current
President of the United States, Barack Obama. She was born on January
17, 1964 in Chicago, Illinois to Fraser Robinson III and Marian (née
Shields).
Her father was a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct
captain while her mother was a full-time homemaker until she (Michelle)
entered high school. Both parents’ families’ roots can be traced to
pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South.
Michelle Obama is the first African-American First Lady of the United
States. Raised in Chicago, she attended Princeton University and Harvard
Law School and then returned to Chicago to work at the Sidley Austin
law firm. There she met her future husband (who is now the first
African-American to become the President of the world superpower).
After a few years, Mrs. Obama decided her true calling was working with
people to serve their communities and their neighbours. She served as
assistant commissioner of planning and development in Chicago’s City
Hall before becoming the founding executive director of the Chicago
chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps programme that prepares youth
for public service.
In 1996, Mrs. Obama joined the University of Chicago with a vision of
bringing campus and community together. As Associate Dean of Student
Services, she developed the university’s first community service
programme, and under her leadership as Vice President of Community and
External Affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Centre,
volunteerism skyrocketed.
Promoting Service and working with young people has remained a staple of
her career and her interest. Continuing this effort now as First Lady,
Mrs. Obama in 2010 launched Let’s Move!, a campaign to bring together
community leaders, teachers, doctors, nurses, moms and dads in a
nationwide effort to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity. Let’s
Move! has an ambitious but important goal: to solve the epidemic of
childhood obesity within a generation.
Let’s Move! will give parents the support they need, provide healthier
food in schools, help kids to be more physically active, and make
healthy, affordable food available in every part of the country.
In 2011, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden together launched Joining Forces,
a nationwide initiative that mobilises all sectors of society to give
their service members and their families the opportunities and support
they have earned, and to raise awareness of military families’ unique
needs as pertains to employment, education and wellness. Joining Forces
has been working hand in hand with American businesses who are committed
to answering the President’s challenge to hire or train 100,000
unemployed veterans and military spouses by 2013.
As First Lady, Mrs. Obama looks forward to continuing her work on the
issues close to her heart — supporting military families, helping
working women balance career and family, encouraging national service,
promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and
healthy living for children and families across the country.
Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters: Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11.
Like their mother, the girls were born on the South Side of Chicago.
All through 2007 and 2008, she helped in the campaign for her husband’s
presidential bid. In lieu of that, she delivered a keynote address at
the 2008 Democratic National Convention. When her husband sought for
re-election, she also spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Being the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a
fashion icon and role model for many women, plus an advocate for poverty
awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.
As a result of her husband’s prominence as a national politician,
Michelle Obama has become a part of popular culture. She was listed
among “25 of the World’s Most Inspiring Women” by Essence in May 2006.
In July 2007 & 2008, she was among “10 of the World’s Best Dressed
People” according to Vanity Fair.
Also, she was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball as a
“young’un” paying tribute to the ‘Legends,’ which helped in paving way
for African American Women. In addition to these, she was 58th on “The
Harvard 100” – a list of the prior year’s most influential Harvard
alumni as ranked by 02138 magazine in September 2007.
To crown it all, she made an appearance on the 2008 People list of
best-dressed women and was showered with praises for her “classic and
confident” look by the magazine.
It is extremely difficult to get an exact figure of the American First
Lady’s net worth since she stopped practising law a long time back, so
her wealth is now linked to that of her husband’s annual income. Based
on this, she recently joined the millionaires’ club with a bank balance
of $2m.
Ever since her husband’s political career took off, Michelle has led a
pretty comfortable life. Among her properties is a house she co-owns in
the elite Kenwood neighbourhood of Chicago. She has also been
chauffeured around in luxury cars like Chrysler 300C and Ford Escape
Hybrid.
One of her topmost priorities is spending quality time with her husband
and kids. She also delights in planning for family vacations in holiday
destinations like Hawaii and Spain. [Punchng.com]
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