Connecting Threads: The First Lady’s First Year and Beyond

By Guest Contributor Sherrae M. Hayes

First Lady Michelle Obama, in the words of 23-year old New York University Ph.D. student Carmen Phillips, is a “one-woman stimulus package”, singlehandedly boosting the pride of professional women of color. Amidst declining approval ratings for President Obama, a potential overhaul of healthcare, and a deep recession – one thing remains unchanged: Mrs. Obama has retained her status as a vibrant leader, inspiring professional women of color through her fashion and more importantly, her fortitude.

On the surface, one can easily trace increased sales for wider belts, bolder colors, single-strand pearls, and assorted sleeveless dresses back to the First Lady, but the threads run deeper and connect professional women of color to a greater sense of hope. Tiffany Norman, 32, an established fashion/event producer originally from Washington DC, has been orchestrating Mercedes Benz Fashion Week shows from behind the scenes for several seasons. As a woman of color in a majority white industry, Norman is empowered and overjoyed that there is a new Mrs. O in fashion town. “Michelle Obama is the epitome of sophistication. She made the White House new again with her well thought out yet ‘Oh, this old thing…’ sense of style. She has the ability to create a fashion superstar overnight from inaugural ball gown designer Jason Wu to crashing J. Crew’s website in minutes. She is so in tune with what’s next in the industry without taking cues from anyone except herself – the two main traits of a fashion leader.” Mrs. Obama has a distinct “swag”, and in almost any mall in America, a woman of color can be spotted with her friends, “trying to get her Michelle on.” Confident and clothed in their right mind, women who battle negative images placed upon them by society march onward daily with a renewed sense of pride.

Michelle Obama embodies the everyday woman of color’s will to succeed. She does so stylishly with a strong heart covered by her cardigan and the courage to move forward one kitten heel at a time. “Growing up in DC afforded countless opportunities for me to see strong black women,” recalls Melisa Rawles, 35, Staff Counsel for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “However, Michelle Obama has taken my generation to greater heights by allowing us to see firsthand that anything is possible with hard work and determination…regardless of the color of your skin, and to think she does it with such grace and poise!”

It is the on top of that effect that continues to inspire women of color to achieve their dreams despite the odds, and unapologetically exercise their “right to bare arms” while doing it. “Michelle Obama is to the modern women what Michael Jordan has been to the modern athlete: a champion for excellence, class, and cool confidence on and off the “the court,” says Brittani Chavious, 23, a Transaction Processing Specialist for JPMorgan Chase. “Mrs. Obama has made being the ‘Mom-in-Chief’ both an attractive and attainable goal—encouraging women of color to recognize that it is possible to be a strong business-minded woman as well as a supportive wife and mother while never once compromising either. The guys had M.J.—we have M.O.” M.O. is the MO, or modus operandi, for many professional women of color as they maneuver from their closets into college classrooms and corporate boardrooms, strutting proudly into their destiny as if they too call 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue their home. With a first lady to call their own within its four walls, essentially they can call it their home—a reality that is still as present and true in 2010 as it was November 4, 2008.

Sherrae M. Hayes is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and a proud alumna of Tennessee State University where she obtained her B.A. in Speech Communications in May 2008. She received a master’s degree in Africana Studies from New York University in January 2010. She has worked for several non-profit organizations and educational institutions, including Uncommon Schools (Brooklyn), Global Elevation (Brooklyn), the NAACP (Cleveland), The Urban League (Cleveland), and Facilitating Leadership in Youth – F.L.Y. (Washington D.C.). Hayes is an active member of her local and global community volunteering with various groups, such as The Renaissance Group (South Africa) and the Obama Campaign. She is also co-founder of The Pentagon Project, a non-profit organization that focuses on the personal liberation of women of African descent, from the inside – out.