Michelle Obama has been noted as one of the most iconic and captivating women of our era. The first African American that became the first Lady of the United States of America. She supported and aided in the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history while also showed herself as a powerful advocate for the rights of women and girls not just in U.S. but in the whole world as well. In her memoir Becoming, she invites us into her world full of deep reflection and experiences that have shaped her to the woman she is now. It is the embodiment of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations. This will surely inspire all of us.

In her early years, Michelle Obama is known in Chicago south side as Michelle Robinson. She was raised in a brick bungalow belonging to Robbie, her mother's aunt. Growing up she saw the chaotic status of United States at the end of 1960’s where Kennedys dead and Martin Luther King Jr Being assassinated. Racial segregation and disparities between Chicago’s downtown and its south side. On the other hand, Michelle remained positive and continue to pursue her passion for learning, piano, jazz music, and Stevie Wonder long before she met Barack. She even started learning piano at the age of 4 at Robbie’s piano lesson. She said that she had never seen a perfect piano in her life other than Robbie’s squat little room. Robbie’s recital at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago made her realize the how much disparity there is in the world. This teaches us to be proactive about learning and getting a good education regardless of how good or bad things are around you. Michelle continued to get an education with the guidance of her mother.

Michelle’s mother helped pushed and help her excel. Her mother was described as tough and had a very high expectations for her children. On the other hand, her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis making his body slowly deteriorating. And a couple of times where she and her family come to visit some family friends in a predominantly white neighborhood, they always return to their car and find that someone has made a deep gash into it. Despite all these, Michelle doesn’t let these challenges hinder her way. She worked hard in school and gets into Princeton. Even if the college counselor doubted her but she didn’t let this to let her down. Another lesson that can be learned from Michelle: Don’t let people’s opinions of you discourage you, try for greatness and you will eventually find the people who believe in you.  She graduated as magna cum laude with a degree in sociology. That doesn’t simple end there. After that, she dived in to Harvard Law School, knowing that it will give her a degree of validation and certainty about her future. After law school, she moves back to Chicago and work on a firm called Sidney and Austin. After a year of working at that firm, she agreed to be a mentor in summer associate. And there she met the love of her life, Barack Obama. She and Barack quickly strike a friendship and they begin to date just before Barack returns to Harvard. She describes him as more concerned with a broader “potential for mobility” than his own wealth.