Introducing America's New First Lady

Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined it. But Michelle Obama's new reality is just that: On January 20, 2009 she becomes the First Lady of the United States of America. In seventy-six days, 44-year-old Michelle Obama, the mother of two, is poised to become the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

And would accompany her husband Barack Obama, USA's 44th president and their two children, Sacha and Malia-Ann to the White House. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Michelle Obama grew up in a conventional two-parent home. She spoke about a father who struggled with a disability to go to work every day and ensure she and her brother got an education. She graduated from high school in 1981 and went on to major in sociology with a minor in African American studies at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.

As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled, Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community. She went on to obtain her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.

While at Harvard, she participated in political demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who are members of minorities. After university, Michelle Obama returned to Chicago and accepted a position with the law firm Sidley Austin, and subsequently worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor, Richard M. Daley and for the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Hospitals.

She met Barack Obama at their law firm where 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. The couple's first date was to see the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing. They were married in October 1992. Throughout the campaign, the media have often labeled Michelle Obama as an "angry black woman." She says: "Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a thick skin along the way."

On February 18, 2008, Michelle Obama commented in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." For this she was roundly criticized. She delivered the keynote address on the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25, showing herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream. The speech was well received.

One political commentator described it as "one of the best, most moving, intimate, rousing, humble, and beautiful speeches I've heard from a convention platform." For the great majority of Americans and supporters around the highly-educated Michelle Obama brings an abundance of beauty, grace and strength to the house of America first family.