Essay Example on Michelle Obama: A Symbol of Hope and Realistic Change

Introduction

Michelle Obama is considered to be one of the most influential person in the United States due to her huge influence on the life of most Americans, particularly the women and the African Americans. Michelle Obama was recognized by times 100 as the most influential person due to the passion she had in driving her agendas and the tremendous support that she gained from the entire American population. People viewed her as a good indication that everyone has the chance to achieve his or her goals despite his or her position and the negative perception portrayed by others. Some of the attributes that made her influential include her confidence, honesty, and ambition. This paper aims to discuss Michelle Obama's influences and the causes and effects that are associated with her selection as one of the most influential individuals

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Michelle Obamas Personal Life

Michelle Obama was born in the year 1964 in Chicago, Illinois, from a humble middle-income family (Smith & Carlin, 2016). She pursed sociology and African American studies in Princeton University in the year and later joined Harvard school of law in the year 1988 (Smith & Carlin, 2016). She started working as a junior associate on one of the firms in the law firms in Chicago, where she decided to specialize in intellectual property law. While still working in the law firm, she met her husband, Barrack Obama, who had also been hired as a summer associate, and they later got married in the year 1991 (Smith & Carlin, 2016). Michelle was later promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner in the department of planning and development, a position that she held for three years (Smith & Carlin, 2016). While in this position, she started the branch of public alliance in Chicago and also initiated a leadership program for young adults.

After his husband, Barrack Obama, was elected to the Senate; she was also hired as an associate dean of student's services in the University of Chicago. Her position enabled her to organize community outreach programs for the school and was later promoted to the position of the university's executive director of community and external affairs. In the year 2005, she was also able to rise to the rank of vice president of community and external affairs in the University of Chicago (White, 2011). When Barrack Obama decided to run for presidency, she also decided to take a leave from her university position and decided to devote herself to his husband's campaigns and to take care of her two daughters. Michelle is considered to have played a significant role in the campaign's success since she helped to persuade the uncommitted voters to support his husband. After Barrack Obama was elected as the president of the United States, she assumed the role of the first lady. She was engaged in several activates, such as supporting the military families, reducing cases of child obesity within the country, and advocating for healthy eating habits. Apart from her official duties, she was able to get much attention due to her sense of fashion.

Influences

Michelle Obama can be considered as a key figure in American leadership due to the numerous influences that she had on the American society. Some of these influences include; first, she was able to promote mental and physical health within the country. To achieve this objective, she had to focus on several key issues such as, first, creating attention on the child obesity epidemic that was affecting most children and increasing the country's mortality rate. Secondly, improving people's access to healthy food mainly by collaborating with companies such as Wal-Mart to lower the cost of vegetables and fruits in order to enhance the nutritional content of food and Promote physical health, mainly building and refurbishing over 10000 tennis courts (Huggins, 2018).

Secondly, she started the lets move initiative that partnered various professionals such as healthcare professionals, community leaders, and educators in an effort to solve the issue of child obesity; the initiatives also focused on helping the parents to make heather choices for their children. Thirdly, she collaborated with other partners to roll out the joint forces initiative whose main objective was to support the war veterans, service members, and their respective families through wellness, employment, and education. The joint forces also partnered with other private sectors across the country to ensure that the beneficiaries had access to all the tools they needed. Fourth, she also started the reach a higher program whose aim was to inspire the young population in the United States to gain control of their life by accomplishing their education beyond high school (Huggins, 2018). The importance of choosing Michelle Obama is that she was focused on ensuring that every individual, despite his or her background or economic status, was able to attain the life he or she dreamt of for inns by completing education. She was also able to improve the life of the entire American population by initiating various health programs such as access to healthy foods.

Causes

Times 100 selection of Michelle Obama as one of the most influential person was triggered by various factors that include, first, how she used her position as the first lady to impact change to the world around her instead of her own interests. Michelle Obama made the lives of the entire American population better through introducing various programs, for instance, the reach higher program that motivated the young population to finalize their learning or education beyond high school (Huggins, 2018). Secondly, she has also tried to empower the entire population to overcome their fears and achieve their greatness. Despite being an African American woman, Michelle Obama overcame her fears and critics and focused on achieving what she needed in order to motivate that they also have the potential if only they take the right path.

Implications

Michelle Obama's overall work and effort to improve the lives of the world around her had a positive impact on humanity. It is through her effort that the American population can now enjoy several benefits that include. First, they are now able to access healthy food s such as fruits and vegetables at a reduced and affordable cost from various stores across the country. This has helped to ensure that every individual, despite his or her social, economic status, is able to consume healthy foods. Secondly, children are able to exercise regularly while at school or at home. This was made possible by Michelle's effort to build and improve tennis courts across the country and also collaborate with other key partners such as health workers, educators, and community leaders. Through the benefits of her initiative the country has recorded reduced cases of child obesity and other related complications

Conclusion

Michelle Obama is perceived to be one of the influential figures in the United States due to her significant effort and contribution towards improving the world around her. She was able to gain such a huge influence through various initiatives that she was able to roll out during her time in leadership. Some of this programs include the joint forces program, the reach higher initiative, and the let's move program After assessing her, influences causes and implication; I can affirm that Michelle Obama is a good choice of the most influential person since she has had a positive impact of the entire humanity.

References

Huggins, Y. (2018). Michelle Obama: Flight vs. Fight. In Michelle Obama's Impact on African American Women and Girls (pp. 31-42). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92468-7_6

Smith, N. K., & Carlin, D. B. (2016). First Lady Michelle Obama: The American Dream Endures, I. A Companion to First Ladies, 677-695. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118732250.ch39

White, K. L. (2011). Michelle Obama: redefining the (white) house-wife. thirdspace: a journal of feminist theory & culture, 10(1).file:///C:/Users/ec/Downloads/332-2597-2-PB.pdf