Michelle Obama

The only First Lady we’ll ever acknowledge captured our hearts during her tenure in the White House by uplifting Black and Brown folks across the country as well as around the world. Not only does Michelle exemplify grace and beauty alongside her husband Barack, but she also continues to use her platform to stand in her truth. This year was no different, as Obama released her second book, The Light We Carry. It serves as the followup to her worldwide bestselling memoir, Becoming, and focuses on the things we have in common–not what tears us apart. “Any time we grip hands with another soul and recognize some piece of their story they’re trying to tell, we are acknowledging and affirming two truths: We’re lonely and yet we’re not alone,” she states in the book. During her press tour for The Light We Carry, Obama has also bravely opened up about the pressure placed on her and Barack as America’s first Black presidential family. “The code of ethics at a workplace, as Black women we deal with it, the whole thing about do you show up with your natural hair? We gotta ease up on the people. They tripped out when Barack wore a tan suit. The great indignity, the scandal of the Obama administration!” Obama recently joked during a talk with moderator Ellen DeGeneres. However, there is nothing funny about respectability politics being used to thinly veil racism. Whether she's fighting voter suppression through initiatives like When We All Vote, or telling diverse stories through her and Barack’s production company, Michelle Obama will always be for the people.