Obama met fellow Harvard graduate, 24- year-old old Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, a South Shore native, while both were working for the law firm of Sidley and Austin in 1988. Michelle, who also holds a BA in Sociology from Princeton, was assigned as Obama’s mentor in the firm.
A four-year courtship ensued, and they were married in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in October 1992. The ceremony was performed by Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright and the groom’s brother, Abon’go (Roy) Malik Obama, served as his best man. The couple has been blessed with two daughters in their 19-year marriage.
Barack and Michelle, Wedding Day
Michelle Obama started her law career as a trial attorney for the law firm of Sidley and Austin, handling transactional and antitrust cases, the first and last time she served as a trial attorney. She left the firm in 1991 to become Chicago’s Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. Two years later, she was appointed the Executive Director of Public Allies, a non-profit youth leadership organization. A six-year spell as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago followed. Her last professional full-time job was as the Vice President of Community and External Affair of the University of Chicago Hospitals, which she resigned from after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008. She currently sits on the board of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a “nonpartisan organization committed to influencing the discourse on global issues."
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