An advocate for healthy families, service members and their families, higher education, and international adolescent girls education.

Growing up, I lived in a brick bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. My father was a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department, and despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at a young age, he hardly ever missed a day of work. My mother stayed home to raise me and my older brother Craig, skillfully managing a busy household filled with love, laughter, and important life lessons. I studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, I joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where I later met Barack Obama, the man who would become the love of my life. After a few years, I decided my true calling was working with people to serve their communities and their neighbors. I 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 program that prepares youth for public service. In 1996, I joined the University of Chicago with a vision of bringing campus and community together. As Associate Dean of Student Services, I developed the university's first community service program, and under my leadership as Vice President of Community and External Affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center, volunteerism skyrocketed. www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama