22 Surprising Facts About Michelle Obama

If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that we miss Michelle Obama and her radiant presence in the White House. The wife of the past POTUS defined the role in a way no woman ever has, and while plenty of us know about bits of her life, you might not know these little-known facts about this hero to many.

1. Michelle Obama was born in Chicago, Illinois – the South Side, to be specific. If you think that the first African American first lady grew up in privilege, you’d be sorely mistaken.

2. Their family grew up in a one-bedroom apartment due to finances being tight. Michelle and her brother slept in the living room, with only a sheet in place of a wall for some privacy.

3. Michelle Obama’s mother was a homemaker, and her dad worked in a Chicago water-purification plant.

4. In college, she studied at both Harvard and Princeton. When she was at Princeton University, African American studies and sociology were her focus. For her sociology, thesis, she wrote “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.”

5. Michelle’s love story with Barack Obama ultimately started due to her work in law. She worked at Sidley & Austin, with a focus on intellectual property law.

6. It was at this law firm that she met her future husband. The two first linked in 1989, when Barrack was working there for the summer. She was actually Barack’s mentor. That sounds like a rom-com waiting to happen!

7. Although she started out in law, Michelle’s passion was more in contributing to public service. That’s exactly why she became Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s assistant in 1991. One year after, she and Barack got married.

8. Education has always been an important aspect to this ex POTUS’s wife. It started in her childhood – her parents knew education was the key to a success, and hence her parents taught both their kids how to read and write by four years old. No wonder she’s so articulate.