Previously, The New Agenda honored former First Lady Laura Bush in our Women Helping Women series.

Although I’m sure we all agree that a woman President could make an enormous contribution to the future of women and girls, until that day, we can be excited about and encourage the efforts of our First Ladies. First Ladies have a tradition of taking on importantprojects, from Eleanor Roosevelt’s work as Chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, to Laura Bush’s work with The Ambassadors’ Girls’ Scholarship Program. While these efforts often go overlooked by the media in favor of fashion and White House decorating reports, we at The New Agenda are proud of the very real contributions our First Ladies make. I am pleased to report that our new First Lady is putting her own mark on Women Helping Women from the White House.
This week, our newest First Lady Michelle Obama launched a new mentoring program that givestwenty young girls, in the tenth and eleventh grade, access to female White House senior staff. Among the staff participating in the programare Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor the President; Melody Barnes, the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor; Desiree Rogers, White House Social Secretary; and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Mrs. Obama’s goal is to have twenty mentors for twenty students. The activities will include financial literacy training and exposure to different career paths, as well as field trips with the first lady.

Comments from Mrs. Obama to the students at a gathering in the State Dining Room included,

“We have some expectations from you as well, that when you get to this position in your life that you do the same thing for somebody else. And if we keep building in that way, holding one another up, there’s no telling what we can do. In every part of government, there are women who are hungry to help bring you guys up, I always wanted to be a bridge between kids like me and the possibilities that can propel them to greatness.”

Brava Michelle Obama! With women like these First Ladies helping women, we are well on our way to our first woman President. Maybe Mrs. Obama is mentoring one now!