In the past seven years as First Lady of the United States of America, she’s inspired us, championed women’s rights and called out Trump on sexism. It’s no wonder Michelle Obama is being implored to go for the big job herself

Words: Rosamund Urwin
Photography: Ben Baker

Michelle Obama has twice made the hairs stand up on my arms this year. The first, when she spoke in June in her final Commencement Speech about what Barack’s tenure in the White House has meant to her.

“I wake up in a house that was built by slaves,” she said. “And I watch my daughters – two beautiful black young women – head off to school, waving goodbye to their father, the President of the United States.”

The second was in October when she spoke about Donald Trump in New Hampshire – how his bragging about groping women had shaken her to the core. She had to blink back tears.

There are many reasons to despair about Trump winning the race to the White House. It is yet another example of a highly-qualified woman being passed over for a job in favour of a hugely under-qualified man. Worse, this a man who has been accused of sexual assault by at least a dozen women. Who sees everyone who isn’t him – a white American man – as lesser beings. It may not have been our election but what Trump’s success says about the current state of the world has left us all feeling bleak. For me, it’s also the starkest reminder that eight years ago the world felt so very different. Hopeful, progressive, exciting. Barack Obama had just made history as the first black president of the United States and together with his wife, Michelle, represented seismic change. They were super smart, determined, kind, open-minded, relevant – embraced by both the younger generation and old. They made me feel proud. And we’re not quite ready to give that up.

Now is not the time for a career break, Michelle Obama