Inside Africa

Michelle Obama looks fabulous at 50

The First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, turned 50 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.