Former US first lady Michelle Obama, the wife of Barack Obama, was in Bucharest on Thursday, September 18, to serve as the main guest at the second edition of the Impact Bucharest series of conferences.
The former first lady spent about an hour in front of a large audience, speaking about her childhood in a modest household in the south of Chicago, about the challenges she faced in school, university, and at the beginning of her career. She also spoke about meeting Barack, her role as a mother, her involvement in the electoral campaign, and life at the White House.
“I often have to remind people that I had an entire life before the White House. I studied law. I practiced in a corporation. I worked in almost every sector before reaching the White House. I worked in public administration. I worked for the mayor of Chicago. I worked in city planning and economic development. I led a nonprofit organization, an NGO aimed at helping young adults engage in public service,” Michelle Obama said.
“After all that, being first lady was, in a way, the easiest thing I ever did. Because, thanks to that experience, I had contact with people, opportunities, and skills,” she emphasized at the event attended by numerous leaders from various fields.
Michelle Obama, 61, also noted that exposure is beneficial to leaders, “because you have to see yourself in the people you work for. You have to see yourself in the people you lead,” and that leaders “must be decent and honest people.”
Asked by the event’s moderator, Beatrice Cornacchia, responsible for brand strategy at Mastercard, what advice she would give leaders, the former first lady said that being a model for future generations “means everything.” She detailed her initiatives to get children in the US to be more active and highlighted the responsibility that those with platforms have to the youth.
“You are in a position to help someone younger. And I think that’s our purpose. Not just to make money. Money is good to make a living, to be able to provide things for your children and grandchildren. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an important effort. […] But if our children are not whole, if we don’t do this work to prioritize their future, if we don’t speak deliberately to prepare them to be good and honest people who will make an impact on the world, if we don’t treat all children as our own, then we are doing something wrong,” said Michelle Obama, who has two daughters, now 27 and 24, with Barack Obama.
The former first lady also outlined plans for the Barack Obama Presidential Center, an educational project that will include, among other things, a museum, a library, and community spaces, and will host the Obama Foundation.
The author of the bestselling memoir Becoming (2018), followed in 2022 by The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, said she constantly feels motivated and that there is plenty of time in the day to do everything if you try.
“We are always evolving, and everything is just a chapter and a period. Eight years at the White House. It was an important chapter. It was significant. But there have been ten years of… more,” she said.
(Photo source: Impact Bucharest on Facebook)
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