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Michelle Obama, the former first lady and current best-selling author, delivered an evening of empowering messages to roughly 12,500 fans who filled the SAP Center in San Jose to capacity on Dec. 14.
It was the Bay Area stop on her sold-out tour in support of “Becoming,” the hit memoir that reportedly has sold more than 3 million copies and ranks as the top-selling book of 2018.
The evening started with Obama aiming a question at the audience:
“What are you becoming?”
Then five people came onstage to answer that question, one of whom was Ayesha Curry, wife of Golden State Warriors all-world player Stephen Curry and a globally known author, chef and TV personality. All five delivered the kind of answers that would work well at the start of a college essay, basically proclaiming that they were on their way to becoming the better versions of themselves.
Then came a lengthy video segment about Obama’s life, starting with her childhood on the South Side of Chicago.
“I had nothing or I had everything, depending on which way you tell it,” Obama (who was born Michelle Robinson) said in the video.
As the scenes progressed, she moved on to Princeton, a law career and then the White House, as the wife of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.
“I’m an ordinary person who found herself on an extraordinary journey,” she said.
As the video dimmed, Obama finally took the stage, greeted by the kind of rapturous applause that would make Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift or BTS jealous.
The moderator was veteran radio journalist Michelle Norris, former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered” and founding director of the Race Card Project.
This is how @MichelleObama takes stage at @SAPCenter pic.twitter.com/SRCl7cDYH0
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) December 15, 2018
While the questions and topics varied, Obama’s answers seemed to keep coming back to the theme of the evening — becoming the person who you want/need to be.
Obama, a great storyteller who thrives in the spotlight, talked about how it’s never too late to try something new. She addressed the oft-asked question to a child — “What do you want to be when you grow up?” — and called it the “worst question in the world,” because of how it puts pressure on people to stick with one thing and not embrace change.
“I am 55 on my next birthday and I am still becoming,” she said.
Obama later tied that into how she left a career in law, after graduating from Harvard Law School, to pursue a more happy life doing public service.
“I decided I wanted to be joyful,” she explained. “It was a selfish endeavor moving into public service.”
. @MichelleObama talking about her dad pic.twitter.com/DXNQX9PuK1
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) December 15, 2018
She also addressed how writing the memoir has helped people understand her better.
“If you want to know Michelle Obama, you have to know that girl Michelle Robinson and all her context,” she said.
And a big part of that context involved her father, Fraser Robinson III, who was a Chicago city employee and Democratic party operative. Her father died in 1991.
“There is not a day that goes by where I don’t try to show up in the world in a way that would make my dad proud,” she said.
. @MichelleObama talking about first meeting @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/91RARK1euj
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) December 15, 2018
There were also some fun, personality-rich stories about what it was like to being a first lady who was also a mom. As she spoke on the topic, it seemed to give her an idea for her next book project.
“‘Parenting Through the Presidency’ — that’s the next book,” she said.
As the evening neared its close, Obama handed out some pieces of advice:
“Show up bold with your story.”
“Be absolutely who you are in every moment.”
Norris asked that if Obama could offer advice to a younger version of herself, what would it be?
“Don’t let fear be your guide,” she said.
, @MichelleObama reads from her book at @SAPCenter pic.twitter.com/8jY88SZK1o
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) December 15, 2018
