Meet Michelle Obama

Michelle Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois to Frasier Robinson (who died in 1990), a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. She grew up in the South Shore community area of Chicago, and was raised in a conventional two-parent home where the family convened around the dinner table nightly. She and her brother, Craig (who is 16 months older), skipped the second grade. Michelle mostly traces her roots to pre-revolutionary African Americans in the American South, much of her family still resides in the state of South Carolina. Michelle graduated from Whitney Young High School in 1981 and went on to major in sociology and minor in African American studies at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with an A.B. in 1985.

At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational. As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." Her brother Craig was the fourth leading scorer in Princeton University's men's basketball history, and is both a former Brown University's men's basketball coach and the current Oregon State Beavers men's basketball coach. She obtained her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. While at Harvard, she participated in political demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who are minorities.

She met Barack Obama when they were the only two African Americans at their law firm and she was assigned to mentor him while he was a summer associate. Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her. The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing. The couple married in October 1992, and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha) (born 2001). Throughout the campaign she has made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week — to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children .

She once requested that Barack, who was then her fiancé, meet her prospective boss when considering her first career move. Now, she is her husband’s closest adviser. Early in the presidential race she did not portray herself as an adviser, however. In fact, she was quoted in interviews saying "My job is not a senior adviser."

She held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor and Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. In 1996, Mrs. Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center. In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May, 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She still holds the position, though is working part time in order to devote more time to being a mother.

With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, she has become a part of pop culture. In May 2006, Essence magazine listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women." In July 2007, Vanity Fair magazine listed her among " World's Best Dressed People." In September 2007, Harvard University magazine listed her 58th of "The Harvard 100," a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked fourth.

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. , a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while he had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, plus investments and royalties from his books.

Meet Michelle Obama!



Michelle Obama on Countdown



Michelle Obama - Extended Interview by Soledad O'Brien