35 Facts About Michelle LaVaughn Robinson

1. In 2011, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson co-founded the Joining Forces program to expand educational and employment options for veterans and to raise awareness about the difficulties plaguing military families.

2. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson made appearances at public schools, stressing the importance of education and volunteer work.

3. In 1991, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson decided to leave corporate law and pursue a career in public service, working as an assistant to Mayor Richard Daley and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago.

4. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's became a fashion trendsetter, in particular favoring sleeveless dresses, including her first-term official portrait in a dress by Michael Kors, and her ball gowns designed by Jason Wu for both inaugurals.

5. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's appeared on the 2008 People list of best-dressed women and was praised by the magazine for her "classic and confident" look.

6. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's was an honorary guest at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball as a "young'un" paying tribute to the "Legends" who helped pave the way for African-American women.

7. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's appeared multiple times on the campaign trail in either solo or joint appearances with Clinton.

8. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's toured seven states in two weeks within October 2010.

9. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's continued advancing her initiative for international education for women by speaking at the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Education for her "Let Girls Learn" initiative in Doha, Qatar and touring a school in Amman, Jordan, where she met with female students.

10. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's was joined by her two daughters and mother.

11. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's met with Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited historic and cultural sites, as well as a university and two high schools.

12. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's had bee hives installed on the South Lawn of the White House.

13. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's supported the economic stimulus bill in visits to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department of Education.

14. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's hosted a White House reception for women's rights advocates in celebration of the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 Pay equity law.

15. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's sent representatives to schools and advocated public service.

16. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's delivered her speech, during which she sought to portray herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream.

17. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's wrote her own stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign and generally spoke without notes.

18. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.

19. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's continues to hold her law license, but as she no longer needs it for her work, she has kept it on a voluntary inactive status since 1993.

20. In 2008 Michelle LaVaughn Robinson said in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that they did not intend to have any more children.

21. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's once requested that her then-fiance meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move; Jarrett became one of her husband's closest advisors.

22. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was elected to the state senate in 1996, and to the US Senate in 2004.

23. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's was assigned to mentor him while he was a summer associate.

24. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

25. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases.

26. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's researched her thesis by sending a questionnaire to African-American graduates, asking that they specify when and how comfortable they were with their race prior to their enrollment at Princeton and how they felt about it when they were a student and since then.

27. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational.

28. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's believed that her brother's status as an alumnus ­—he graduated in 1983, before being hired as a basketball coach at Oregon State University and Brown University—may have helped her during the admission process, but she was resolved to demonstrate her own worth.

29. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.

30. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society, and served as student council treasurer.

31. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, established as a selective enrollment school, where she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita.

32. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's was determined to stay out of trouble and be a good student, which was what her father wanted for her.

33. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson's was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table".

34. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson became a freedman at age 15 after the war.

35. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson married Barack in 1992 and they have two daughters.