Michelle LaVaughn Obama née Robinson (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and the wife of Barack Obama, who is the President-elect of the United Statesand Senator from Illinois. She will be the first African-American to become the First Lady of the United States. She was born and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. After completing her formal education, she returned to Chicago and accepted a position with the law firm Sidley Austin, and subsequently worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Hospitals. Michelle Obama is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. She met Barack Obama w...more >>hen he joined Sidley Austin. After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C.