Summary

In the Preface, Michelle Obama opens her autobiography with musings about her childhood, her professional career, her life in the White House, and the first months of her life after leaving the White House. She dates the preface as "March 2017" (ix).

Initially, Obama discusses her life as a child. She mentions her childhood dreams, like having a dog, owning a "four-door station wagon" (ix), living in "a house that had stairs in it" (ix), and aspiring to a career as a pediatrician. Next, she reflects on her professional life, and the roles she has held as a lawyer, hospital vice-president, and director of a non-profit, and "a job that's not officially a job" -- serving as First Lady of the U.S.

She weaves life events throughout the Preface. She mentions being "a bride, a stressed-out new mother, a daughter torn up by grief...