experience facing and overcoming
adversity is actually one of your
biggest advantages you got to be open to
taking some risks and not being afraid
to fail
I want you all to stay true to the most
real most sincere most authentic parts
of yourselves she’s an American Lawyer
writer and First Lady of the United
States of America she’s married to the
44th President of the United States
Barack Obama and was the first African
American first lady she has become a
fashion icon role model for women an
advocate of poverty awareness she is
Michelle Obama and here’s my take on her
top ten rules for success as usual as
you watch if there’s something that she
says that you really really love leave
in the comments below put quotes around
it as well so other people can be
inspired as well some of you have been
homeless some of you have risked the
rejection of your families to pursue
your education
many of you have lain awake at night
wondering how on earth you are going to
support your parents and your kids and
still pay tuition and many of you know
what it’s like to live not just
month-to-month or day to day but meal to
meal but graduates let me tell you you
you should never ever be embarrassed by
those struggles you should never view
your challenges as a disadvantage
instead it’s important for you to
understand that your experience facing
and overcoming adversity is actually one
of your biggest advantages and I know
that because I’ve seen it myself not
just as a student working my way through
school but years later when I be after I
came before I came to the White House
and I worked as a Dean at a college in
that role I encountered students who had
every advantage their parents paid their
full tuition they lived in beautiful
campus dorms they had every material
possession a college kid could want cars
computers spending
money but when some of them got their
first bad great they just fell apart
they lost it because they were
ill-equipped to handle their first
encounter with disappointment or falling
short
but graduates as you all know life will
put many obstacles in your path that are
far worse than a bad grade you’ll you’ll
have unreasonable bosses and difficult
clients and patients you’ll experience
illnesses and losses crises and setbacks
that will come out of nowhere and knock
you off your feet but unlike so many
other young people you have already
developed the resilience and the
maturity that you need to pick yourself
up and dust yourself off and keep moving
through the pain keep moving forward
next I’ve always felt a deep sense of
obligation to make the biggest impact
possible with this incredible platform
so I took on issues that were personal
to me issues like helping families raise
healthier kids honoring the incredible
military families that I’ve met out on
the campaign trail inspiring our young
people to value their education and
finish college now some folks criticize
my choices for not being bold enough but
these were my choices my issues and I
decided to tackle them in a way that
felt most authentic to me in a way that
was both substantive and strategic but
also fun and hopefully inspiring so I
immersed myself in the policy details I
worked with Congress on legislation
gauge speeches to CEOs military generals
Hollywood executives but I also worked
to ensure that my efforts would resonate
with kids and families and that meant
doing things in a creative and
unconventional way so yeah I planted a
garden and hula hooped on the White
House lawn with kids I did some mom
dancing on TV I celebrated military kids
with Kermit the Frog
I asked folks across the country to wear
their alma mater t-shirts for college
signing day and at the end of the day by
staying true to the me I’ve always known
I found that this journey has been
incredibly freeing because no matter
what happened I had the peace of mind of
knowing that all of the chatter the
name-calling the doubting all of it was
just noise it did not define me it
didn’t change who I was and most
importantly it couldn’t hold me back I
have learned that as long as I hold fast
to my beliefs and values and follow my
own moral compass then the only
expectations I need to leave live up to
are my own so graduates you see Barack
and I were both raised by families who
didn’t have much in the way money or
material possessions but who had given
us something far more valuable their
unconditional love their unflinching
sacrifice and the chance to go places
they had never
imagine for themselves my father was a
pump operator at the city water plant
and he was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis when my brother and I were
young and even as a kid I knew there
were plenty of days when he was in pain
and I knew there were plenty of mornings
when it was a struggle for him to simply
get out of bed but every morning I
watched my father wake up with a smile
now grab his Walker prop himself up
against the bathroom sink and slowly
shave and butt in his uniform and when
he returned home after a long day’s work
my brother and I would would stand at
the top of the stairs of our little
apartment patiently waiting to greet him
watching has he reached down to lift one
leg and then the other to slowly climb
his way into our arms but despite these
challenges my dad hardly ever missed a
day of work he and my mom were
determined to give me and my brother the
kind of education they could only dream
of what has been the best advice you
received from your teacher or professor
oh I’ve gotten a lot of great advice
from teachers mentors professors
throughout the year so first of all you
got to be open to taking some risks and
not being afraid to fail failure is the
key to success so when you get to
college you got to raise your hand you
have to be engaged
don’t be the kid thinking oh I shouldn’t
be here and maybe I’m not smart enough
and maybe you know no you are more than
capable of going to college being
successful and going on and doing
whatever you want in life
I sit here because I am you all there is
no difference between me and you
working-class kid growing up on the
south side of Chicago growing up with
doubts and fears just like all of you
all do I know exactly how you all are
feeling and kids out there who are
thinking maybe I’m not ready maybe I’m
not good enough maybe I can’t afford it
but what teachers and mentors have told
me is that yes you can and you must so
get in there and be bold with your
intelligence raise your hand
get support when you need it and know
that we all got here because somebody
helped us I want you all to stay true to
the most real most sincere most
authentic parts of yourselves I want you
to ask those basic questions who do you
want to be what inspires you how do you
want to give back and then I want you to
take a deep breath and trust yourselves
to chart your own course and make your
mark on the world maybe it feels like
you’re supposed to go to law school but
what you really want to do is teach
little kids maybe your parents are
expecting you to come back home after
you graduate but you’re feeling a pull
to travel the world I want you to listen
to those thoughts I want you to act with
both your mind but also your heart and
no matter what path you choose I want
you to make sure it’s you choosing it
and not someone else we learned about
dignity and decency that how hard you
work matters more than how much you make
that helping others means more than just
getting ahead yourself
we learned about honesty and integrity
that the truth matters that that you
don’t take shortcuts
or play by your own set of rules
[Applause]
doesn’t kill unless you earn it fair and
squared
do you feel like and I’m sure you did
feel pressure to be the first
african-american first lady to like
there’s some kind of responsibility or
well one of the things I know from
sitting in this position that every
first lady feels some level of pressure
I mean this is a big platform and you
don’t want to mess it up so I wouldn’t
dare to compare my experience to any
former first lady but I do take the role
seriously I do as I said in my
convention speech I know that kids are
watching us they’re watching what we say
what we do and Barack and I have tried
to make sure that what kids are seeing
or something is something that they can
be proud of because it matters you’re
getting advice from hog on the world
disease a former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair’s wife should be glad did you
happen to hear or read what you said no
well she warns you will have to learn
I’m to take a back seat and you will not
be able to have any kind of a career and
she says that that will be a very
difficult thing to do
yeah I think it just depends on the
person I have never been a the kind of
person who’s defined myself by a career
or a job I just never have people used
to ask me that during the course of the
campaign
stepped off the track and devoted your
your life to his dream but the truth is
is that I believe in this man as our
president and his vision for the
countries and if that meant you know
stepping away from my particular job for
a year and a half or four or four eight
years if you do what you’re supposed to
different then you know that’s a small
sacrifice to make and it’s enough to
keep you fulfilled oh well I’ve got
these great kids too
I mean the truth is you know and Barack
knows this about me I love kids and I
love my kids and this isn’t to say that
anyone who’s working doesn’t but I enjoy
the balance of having a job and having a
set of projects and being able to have
time to make sure that I’m in the girls
lives and making sure that we have time
it’s a family I mean that’s a plate I
don’t view myself as being in a position
where I’m twiddling my thumbs and
wondering well how am I going to get
through the day I’ve never experienced
that in my life we are playing a long
game here and that change is hard and
change is slow and it never happens all
at once but eventually we get there we
always do we get there because of folks
like my dad
folks like Barack’s grandmother men and
women who who said to themselves I may
not have a chance to fulfill my dreams
but maybe my children will maybe my
grandchildren will see so many of us
stand here tonight because of their
sacrifice and longing in steadfast love
because time and again they swallowed
their fear
and did was hard
[Applause]
we can say we will face fully in the
Beehive we just drop the mic didn’t why
we were making honey we’re gonna be hard
we’re making honey to put in our
lemonade you
what does that mean what’s that look
you should come up agin yeah
you
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because sweet cherry
asked me to so if there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you want me to profile
next leave it in the comments below and
I’ll see what I can do
I’d also love to know which of the ten
rules had the biggest impact on you and
why what did you learn from this what
are you going to change as we love
watching this video leave in the
comments and I’ll join in the discussion
I also want to give a quick shout out to
Cassandra L DeLuca Cassandra thank you
so much for buying my book really means
a lot to me those you watching you want
to chance at a shout out in the future
video make sure to pick up a copy of the
book and email in your receipt so we can
keep track thank you guys so much for
watching and continue to believe or
whatever your one where it is and I’ll
see you soon
and let me tell you you should feel so
proud of making it to this day and I
hope that you’re excited to get started
on that next chapter but I also imagine
that you might think about all that
history all those heroes who came before
you and you might also feel a little
pressure you know pressure to live up to
the legacy of those who came before you
pressure to meet the expectations of
others and believe me I understand that
kind of pressure I’ve experienced a
little bit of it myself
you see graduates I didn’t start out as
the fully firm form first lady who
stands before you today no no I had my
share of bumps along the way back when
my husband first started campaigning for
president folks had all sorts of
questions of me what kind of first lady
would I be what kinds of issues would I
take on would I be more like Laura Bush
or Hillary Clinton or Nancy Reagan and
the truth is those same questions would
have been posed to any candidate spouse
that’s just the way the process works
but as potentially the first African
American first lady I was also the focus
of another set of questions and
speculations conversations sometimes
rooted in the fears and misperceptions
of others was I too loud or too angry or
too emasculating
or was I too soft too much of a mom not
enough of a career woman then there was
the first time I was on a magazine cover
it was a cartoon drawing of me with a
huge afro and a machine gun now yeah was
satire but if I’m really being honest
that knocked me back a bit it made me
wonder well does how are people seeing
me or you might remember the onstage
celebratory fist bump between me and my
husband after a primary when that was
referred to as a terrorist fist jab and
over the years folks have used plenty of
interesting words to describe me one
said I exhibited exhibited a little bit
of uppity ISM another noted that I was
one of my husband’s cronies of color
cable news charmingly referred to me as
Obama’s baby mama and of course
Barack has endured his fair share of the
insults and slights even today there are
still folks questioning his citizenship
and all of this used to really get to me
back in those days I had a lot of
sleepless nights worrying about what
people thought of me wondering if I
might be hurting my husband’s chances of
winning his election
fearing how my girls would feel that
they found out what some people were
saying about their mom but eventually I
realized that if I wanted to keep my
sanity and not let others define me
there was only one thing I could do
and that was to have faith in God’s plan
for me I had to ignore all of the noise
and be true to myself and the rest would
work itself out because we know how
difficult your husband’s job is what are
the difficulties of being the first lady
you know I find it really hard in the
face of what he’s going through and what
I see happening to folks when they’re
struggling for me to even begin to
complain I have a I have the best job
because I don’t have to make the hard
decisions the issues that I pick a ones
that I feel passionately about I get to
pick and choose what I do which is why
you know I love what I do I get to spend
time in in this country traveling around
meat and kid you see me I’m jumping rope
and hula hooping it’s it’s hard for me
knowing you know how you know what
struggle is to even even answer that
with a straight face you know one of the
things that I always I tell my mentees I
tell my daughters is that the our first
job in life is women I think is to get
to know ourselves and I think a lot of
times we don’t do that we spend our time
pleasing satisfying looking out into the
world to define who we are
listening to the messages the images the
limited definitions that people have of
who we are and that’s true for women of
color for sure there is a limited box
that we are put in yeah and if we live
by that limited definition we we miss
out on a lot of who we are but it it
takes it takes taking the time to know
who you are to be able to deal with the
onslaught of negative messages that
you’re bound to get so for me I came
into this with a pretty clear sense of
myself and some of that comes with age
some of that comes with experience some
of that comes from being fortunate
enough to been raised by a loving mother
strong focused and a father who loved me
dearly
so I fortunately came into this
situation with a really clear sense of
who I was
adversity is actually one of your
biggest advantages you got to be open to
taking some risks and not being afraid
to fail
I want you all to stay true to the most
real most sincere most authentic parts
of yourselves she’s an American Lawyer
writer and First Lady of the United
States of America she’s married to the
44th President of the United States
Barack Obama and was the first African
American first lady she has become a
fashion icon role model for women an
advocate of poverty awareness she is
Michelle Obama and here’s my take on her
top ten rules for success as usual as
you watch if there’s something that she
says that you really really love leave
in the comments below put quotes around
it as well so other people can be
inspired as well some of you have been
homeless some of you have risked the
rejection of your families to pursue
your education
many of you have lain awake at night
wondering how on earth you are going to
support your parents and your kids and
still pay tuition and many of you know
what it’s like to live not just
month-to-month or day to day but meal to
meal but graduates let me tell you you
you should never ever be embarrassed by
those struggles you should never view
your challenges as a disadvantage
instead it’s important for you to
understand that your experience facing
and overcoming adversity is actually one
of your biggest advantages and I know
that because I’ve seen it myself not
just as a student working my way through
school but years later when I be after I
came before I came to the White House
and I worked as a Dean at a college in
that role I encountered students who had
every advantage their parents paid their
full tuition they lived in beautiful
campus dorms they had every material
possession a college kid could want cars
computers spending
money but when some of them got their
first bad great they just fell apart
they lost it because they were
ill-equipped to handle their first
encounter with disappointment or falling
short
but graduates as you all know life will
put many obstacles in your path that are
far worse than a bad grade you’ll you’ll
have unreasonable bosses and difficult
clients and patients you’ll experience
illnesses and losses crises and setbacks
that will come out of nowhere and knock
you off your feet but unlike so many
other young people you have already
developed the resilience and the
maturity that you need to pick yourself
up and dust yourself off and keep moving
through the pain keep moving forward
next I’ve always felt a deep sense of
obligation to make the biggest impact
possible with this incredible platform
so I took on issues that were personal
to me issues like helping families raise
healthier kids honoring the incredible
military families that I’ve met out on
the campaign trail inspiring our young
people to value their education and
finish college now some folks criticize
my choices for not being bold enough but
these were my choices my issues and I
decided to tackle them in a way that
felt most authentic to me in a way that
was both substantive and strategic but
also fun and hopefully inspiring so I
immersed myself in the policy details I
worked with Congress on legislation
gauge speeches to CEOs military generals
Hollywood executives but I also worked
to ensure that my efforts would resonate
with kids and families and that meant
doing things in a creative and
unconventional way so yeah I planted a
garden and hula hooped on the White
House lawn with kids I did some mom
dancing on TV I celebrated military kids
with Kermit the Frog
I asked folks across the country to wear
their alma mater t-shirts for college
signing day and at the end of the day by
staying true to the me I’ve always known
I found that this journey has been
incredibly freeing because no matter
what happened I had the peace of mind of
knowing that all of the chatter the
name-calling the doubting all of it was
just noise it did not define me it
didn’t change who I was and most
importantly it couldn’t hold me back I
have learned that as long as I hold fast
to my beliefs and values and follow my
own moral compass then the only
expectations I need to leave live up to
are my own so graduates you see Barack
and I were both raised by families who
didn’t have much in the way money or
material possessions but who had given
us something far more valuable their
unconditional love their unflinching
sacrifice and the chance to go places
they had never
imagine for themselves my father was a
pump operator at the city water plant
and he was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis when my brother and I were
young and even as a kid I knew there
were plenty of days when he was in pain
and I knew there were plenty of mornings
when it was a struggle for him to simply
get out of bed but every morning I
watched my father wake up with a smile
now grab his Walker prop himself up
against the bathroom sink and slowly
shave and butt in his uniform and when
he returned home after a long day’s work
my brother and I would would stand at
the top of the stairs of our little
apartment patiently waiting to greet him
watching has he reached down to lift one
leg and then the other to slowly climb
his way into our arms but despite these
challenges my dad hardly ever missed a
day of work he and my mom were
determined to give me and my brother the
kind of education they could only dream
of what has been the best advice you
received from your teacher or professor
oh I’ve gotten a lot of great advice
from teachers mentors professors
throughout the year so first of all you
got to be open to taking some risks and
not being afraid to fail failure is the
key to success so when you get to
college you got to raise your hand you
have to be engaged
don’t be the kid thinking oh I shouldn’t
be here and maybe I’m not smart enough
and maybe you know no you are more than
capable of going to college being
successful and going on and doing
whatever you want in life
I sit here because I am you all there is
no difference between me and you
working-class kid growing up on the
south side of Chicago growing up with
doubts and fears just like all of you
all do I know exactly how you all are
feeling and kids out there who are
thinking maybe I’m not ready maybe I’m
not good enough maybe I can’t afford it
but what teachers and mentors have told
me is that yes you can and you must so
get in there and be bold with your
intelligence raise your hand
get support when you need it and know
that we all got here because somebody
helped us I want you all to stay true to
the most real most sincere most
authentic parts of yourselves I want you
to ask those basic questions who do you
want to be what inspires you how do you
want to give back and then I want you to
take a deep breath and trust yourselves
to chart your own course and make your
mark on the world maybe it feels like
you’re supposed to go to law school but
what you really want to do is teach
little kids maybe your parents are
expecting you to come back home after
you graduate but you’re feeling a pull
to travel the world I want you to listen
to those thoughts I want you to act with
both your mind but also your heart and
no matter what path you choose I want
you to make sure it’s you choosing it
and not someone else we learned about
dignity and decency that how hard you
work matters more than how much you make
that helping others means more than just
getting ahead yourself
we learned about honesty and integrity
that the truth matters that that you
don’t take shortcuts
or play by your own set of rules
[Applause]
doesn’t kill unless you earn it fair and
squared
do you feel like and I’m sure you did
feel pressure to be the first
african-american first lady to like
there’s some kind of responsibility or
well one of the things I know from
sitting in this position that every
first lady feels some level of pressure
I mean this is a big platform and you
don’t want to mess it up so I wouldn’t
dare to compare my experience to any
former first lady but I do take the role
seriously I do as I said in my
convention speech I know that kids are
watching us they’re watching what we say
what we do and Barack and I have tried
to make sure that what kids are seeing
or something is something that they can
be proud of because it matters you’re
getting advice from hog on the world
disease a former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair’s wife should be glad did you
happen to hear or read what you said no
well she warns you will have to learn
I’m to take a back seat and you will not
be able to have any kind of a career and
she says that that will be a very
difficult thing to do
yeah I think it just depends on the
person I have never been a the kind of
person who’s defined myself by a career
or a job I just never have people used
to ask me that during the course of the
campaign
stepped off the track and devoted your
your life to his dream but the truth is
is that I believe in this man as our
president and his vision for the
countries and if that meant you know
stepping away from my particular job for
a year and a half or four or four eight
years if you do what you’re supposed to
different then you know that’s a small
sacrifice to make and it’s enough to
keep you fulfilled oh well I’ve got
these great kids too
I mean the truth is you know and Barack
knows this about me I love kids and I
love my kids and this isn’t to say that
anyone who’s working doesn’t but I enjoy
the balance of having a job and having a
set of projects and being able to have
time to make sure that I’m in the girls
lives and making sure that we have time
it’s a family I mean that’s a plate I
don’t view myself as being in a position
where I’m twiddling my thumbs and
wondering well how am I going to get
through the day I’ve never experienced
that in my life we are playing a long
game here and that change is hard and
change is slow and it never happens all
at once but eventually we get there we
always do we get there because of folks
like my dad
folks like Barack’s grandmother men and
women who who said to themselves I may
not have a chance to fulfill my dreams
but maybe my children will maybe my
grandchildren will see so many of us
stand here tonight because of their
sacrifice and longing in steadfast love
because time and again they swallowed
their fear
and did was hard
[Applause]
we can say we will face fully in the
Beehive we just drop the mic didn’t why
we were making honey we’re gonna be hard
we’re making honey to put in our
lemonade you
what does that mean what’s that look
you should come up agin yeah
you
thank you guys so much for watching I
made this video because sweet cherry
asked me to so if there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you want me to profile
next leave it in the comments below and
I’ll see what I can do
I’d also love to know which of the ten
rules had the biggest impact on you and
why what did you learn from this what
are you going to change as we love
watching this video leave in the
comments and I’ll join in the discussion
I also want to give a quick shout out to
Cassandra L DeLuca Cassandra thank you
so much for buying my book really means
a lot to me those you watching you want
to chance at a shout out in the future
video make sure to pick up a copy of the
book and email in your receipt so we can
keep track thank you guys so much for
watching and continue to believe or
whatever your one where it is and I’ll
see you soon
and let me tell you you should feel so
proud of making it to this day and I
hope that you’re excited to get started
on that next chapter but I also imagine
that you might think about all that
history all those heroes who came before
you and you might also feel a little
pressure you know pressure to live up to
the legacy of those who came before you
pressure to meet the expectations of
others and believe me I understand that
kind of pressure I’ve experienced a
little bit of it myself
you see graduates I didn’t start out as
the fully firm form first lady who
stands before you today no no I had my
share of bumps along the way back when
my husband first started campaigning for
president folks had all sorts of
questions of me what kind of first lady
would I be what kinds of issues would I
take on would I be more like Laura Bush
or Hillary Clinton or Nancy Reagan and
the truth is those same questions would
have been posed to any candidate spouse
that’s just the way the process works
but as potentially the first African
American first lady I was also the focus
of another set of questions and
speculations conversations sometimes
rooted in the fears and misperceptions
of others was I too loud or too angry or
too emasculating
or was I too soft too much of a mom not
enough of a career woman then there was
the first time I was on a magazine cover
it was a cartoon drawing of me with a
huge afro and a machine gun now yeah was
satire but if I’m really being honest
that knocked me back a bit it made me
wonder well does how are people seeing
me or you might remember the onstage
celebratory fist bump between me and my
husband after a primary when that was
referred to as a terrorist fist jab and
over the years folks have used plenty of
interesting words to describe me one
said I exhibited exhibited a little bit
of uppity ISM another noted that I was
one of my husband’s cronies of color
cable news charmingly referred to me as
Obama’s baby mama and of course
Barack has endured his fair share of the
insults and slights even today there are
still folks questioning his citizenship
and all of this used to really get to me
back in those days I had a lot of
sleepless nights worrying about what
people thought of me wondering if I
might be hurting my husband’s chances of
winning his election
fearing how my girls would feel that
they found out what some people were
saying about their mom but eventually I
realized that if I wanted to keep my
sanity and not let others define me
there was only one thing I could do
and that was to have faith in God’s plan
for me I had to ignore all of the noise
and be true to myself and the rest would
work itself out because we know how
difficult your husband’s job is what are
the difficulties of being the first lady
you know I find it really hard in the
face of what he’s going through and what
I see happening to folks when they’re
struggling for me to even begin to
complain I have a I have the best job
because I don’t have to make the hard
decisions the issues that I pick a ones
that I feel passionately about I get to
pick and choose what I do which is why
you know I love what I do I get to spend
time in in this country traveling around
meat and kid you see me I’m jumping rope
and hula hooping it’s it’s hard for me
knowing you know how you know what
struggle is to even even answer that
with a straight face you know one of the
things that I always I tell my mentees I
tell my daughters is that the our first
job in life is women I think is to get
to know ourselves and I think a lot of
times we don’t do that we spend our time
pleasing satisfying looking out into the
world to define who we are
listening to the messages the images the
limited definitions that people have of
who we are and that’s true for women of
color for sure there is a limited box
that we are put in yeah and if we live
by that limited definition we we miss
out on a lot of who we are but it it
takes it takes taking the time to know
who you are to be able to deal with the
onslaught of negative messages that
you’re bound to get so for me I came
into this with a pretty clear sense of
myself and some of that comes with age
some of that comes with experience some
of that comes from being fortunate
enough to been raised by a loving mother
strong focused and a father who loved me
dearly
so I fortunately came into this
situation with a really clear sense of
who I was
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