Michelle Obama is a boss.
When I was in fifth grade, I watched the Obama administration come to life from a crowded library carpet and a single roll-in television. My back ached as my elementary school peers and I watched our nation’s first black president put his hand on the bible, his breathtaking wife standing guard. She was composed but excited, brilliant, and vibrant. For a young girl’s first real introduction to American politics, it was magic.
While Barack Obama’s presidency made me feel bright-eyed and curious about the upcoming years, it was Michelle who became my role model that day. I was young and unscathed by the world of politics and the way my country worked and had the capacity to learn and be guided by this woman. I was the age of Barack and Michelle’s daughters and was given the opportunity to grow up with the Obama girls. We transformed into women under the tutelage of Michelle, her grace and wisdom as both First Lady and mother eminently clear.
Although her incredibly upbeat personality and appearances have swayed pop culture (hey, Carpool Karaoke), she still feels like one of us — or rather, she is the better version of the American people. She is the kind of human being who effortlessly connects with others, as if doing so is as easy as dancing to a Stevie Wonder song. She created an anthem (‘This is For My Girls‘) with the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliot and Lea Michele to endorse and raise funds for global education for girls. Her “Let’s Move” program has gained support across the nation, she has helped build a strong foundation for creating more services for our country’s veterans, and she and her husband actively campaign to aid poverty-stricken communities through programs, like “Reach Higher,” which aims to support the potential of all American citizens, not just the upper class.
But it has not been easy. Michelle has spoken about witnessing and experiencing struggle. She overcame the odds to study with an unbelievable resolve at two Ivy League schools. She has experience ample amounts of personal criticism— plenty of which has been sexist and racist. But she has also refused to allow her race and/or gender to hold her back at any stage of the game. Her fierce and fearless pride in her blackness is constant and she is unshakable in the face of adversity, difference, and taboo. Take for example her comment juxtaposing her family’s political life in a house built by slaves at the DNC. Those words will live on in textbooks and in the hearts of hard-working but marginalized Americans, encouraging them to plow ahead until the systematic inequality evident in our country is balanced.
In fact, Obama not only ignores this criticism, but chooses to lead by example instead: she has taught women how to treat themselves and others. When people such as Virginia McLaurin visit the White House, Michelle’s effervescence is obviously genuine: She treats such guests like friends, not tourists or patrons. Her marriage is not only #couplegoals, but a truly beautiful example of a healthy, loving, fun and empowered relationship. She and her husband are so painfully adorable and real, but also incredible change-makers in history (and even have a movie coming out about their first date — Southside With You — which looks so touching and cute it’s unreal).
As she reminded America in her speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention, every election, we must choose our president based in no small part on their power to shape our children throughout their term. As she spoke eloquently and optimistically, I knew that despite any disagreements, mistakes, or hindrances, I would vote a female president into office. And the woman who has prepared this country for another bright, capable female is Michelle herself. Her strength in her field, her communal maternity, and outspoken charisma have not only left a deep impression, but have prepared us for the future of the female.
This year, I will not sit on a carpet as a bright-eyed bystander, watching the election unfold, because Michelle Obama taught me to get involved. I will walk calmly and glowingly into my polling place and do my part to continue the legacy of savvy light the Obamas brought into their modernized White House. I will look forward to what Michelle does after those polls close, because, as Fifth Harmony would say, FLOTUS is a boss.
