Amanda Roberts

    aroberts42@live.com

    Lawyer and volunteer activist Michelle Obama charmed China this week during her weeklong tour of the country with her daughters and mother as she talked about education, family, and fostering friendship between the two nations.

    MICHELLE OBAMA, America’s first lady, visited China this week as a goodwill ambassador for the United States to practice what some people have dubbed “citizen diplomacy” as she met with China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, held several meetings and roundtable discussions with and visited students around the country. Similar to her visits abroad in the past, Obama talked about issues near and dear to her.

    At a roundtable discussion in Beijing, she talked about the need to help people with disabilities. She visited several schools in Beijing, Xi’an, and Chengdu to talk about education and leadership. She expanded her usual talking points, though, to also discuss the role of technology in people’s lives. She said that technology “can open up the entire world and expose us to ideas and innovations we could never have imagined.” She also talked about the similarities between the United States and China with regards to minority rights.

    She visited several historical sites and indulged in cultural activities such as calligraphy and tai chi. Her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson, are also on the trip to emphasize the importance of family ties. Robinson lives at the White House with the Obama family to help care for the girls.

    Obama already had a history of serving people long before she ever became America’s first lady. Both in and out of the White House, Obama made a career as an advocate for poverty awareness, healthy eating, and supporting military families.

    Obama was born Michelle Robinson on the south side of Chicago in 1964. She attended Princeton and Harvard Law School before working as a lawyer in Chicago where she met her future husband and future American president, Barack Obama, when she was assigned as his mentor. As a married couple, they supported each other as they both fostered successful careers.

    After working as a lawyer for a few years, Michelle Obama decided that she wanted to do more to help people in her community. She went to work for the city of Chicago as assistant commissioner of planning and development. She then founded the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares young people for public service in government agencies and nonprofit groups. During her four years there, she headed many fund-raising committees and events and set fund-raising records for the organization that stood for over a decade.

    In 1996, Obama became the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago where she developed the university’s first community service program. Under her guidance and leadership, volunteerism at the university skyrocketed.

    Even though Obama cut back on her work and volunteerism to raise her daughters and to support her husband’s presidential campaigns, she has continued to make volunteering and community leadership her primary focus in her role as first lady.

    Some of her first acts as first lady included visiting homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She visited schools to encourage students to get involved in community service. She also hosted a reception for women’s rights activists.

    In 2010, Obama launched the “Let’s Move” campaign to combat child obesity, a growing epidemic in America. Through “Let’s Move,” Obama brought together parents, community leaders, teachers and health-care workers nationwide to work together to fight this problem. Obama even appeared on popular children’s programs such as Sesame Street to talk directly to kids about nutrition. By 2012, obesity rates in children dropped by 43 percent.

    Obama practices what she preaches and installed an organic garden on the White House lawn that grows the vegetables used in the White House kitchens. It was the first vegetable garden at the White House in over 65 years. Her book “American Grown” talks about her experiences in the White House garden and her commitment to healthy eating.

    In 2011, Obama joined forces with Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, to launch “Joining Forces,” a nationwide initiative to encourage support for military service members and their families from all sectors of society. “Joining Forces” raises awareness for military families’ unique needs regarding employment, education and wellness.

    In 2013, Obama became the ambassador for “North Star,” an initiative by President Obama to help more young people attend college, especially students who are minorities or from low-income families.

    Michelle Obama also works to help women balance families and careers, encourages service, supports the arts and education, and she actively supports LGBT persons and their families.

    Michelle Obama is one of the most prominent, female public figures in America today. In May of 2006 (nearly three years before she became the first lady), “Essence” magazine named her one of “25 of the World’s Most Inspiring Women.” In 2013, she was ranked Forbes magazine’s fourth out of 100 “Most Powerful Women in the World.” She has a 67 percent approval rating from the American public (20 points higher than her husband does).

    Obama is not just a strong force at home, but is also a respected diplomat abroad. She went on her first solo diplomatic mission in 2010 to Haiti after the island nation experienced a devastating earthquake. Even though relief efforts were underway, she was concerned that the world’s attention to the crisis was waning. Her trip re-energized humanitarian efforts in the region.

    Immediately after her trip to Haiti, Obama visited Mexico where she launched an international campaign to encourage young people to get involved in their communities. She was hosted by Mexico’s first lady, Margarita Zavala, who is also a lawyer and mother of young children.

    In 2011, Obama visited Botswana and South Africa without the U.S. president on a goodwill mission to demonstrate to the African continent that Barack Obama was indeed concerned about African affairs. She was hosted by Botswana president Ian Khama, and the two talked about the significance of the Botswana-U.S. friendship.

    Obama spent her last two days in Chengdu, visiting the world-famous panda reserve there and meeting with more students. Obama and her family also ate at a Tibetan restaurant before flying back to Washington, D.C.