Valerie Jarrett Found Her Voice

...And what a pleasure it is! How did this shy little girl, born in Iran, later moved to London, and finally settled on the south side of Chicago because her parents worried that she wouldn't know her family, end up being the most senior advisor in the Obama White House for the entire eight year run? Well, she'll tell you, and I defy you not to enjoy the tale because Valerie Jarrett is a delight to spend time with. She's honest, unassuming, funny, and yes, brilliant.

Unlike Michelle Obama, who had to cautiously write her bestselling memoir "Becoming," Jarrett feels no compunction about calling out racism everywhere she confronts it. From her youngest days she understood that her father, a black physician, could not be hired in the United States because of his color. In Iran, he was welcomed and prompted to write and research, until he became a renowned geneticist who lectured around the world, taking his wife and little girl with him.

But back in Chicago, in the dismal public school system that her parents firmly

believed in, Valerie was bullied for her accent, denied access to proper school materials, and seldom challenged by her work. Private schooling followed and Valerie set her sights on Stanford. California during the '60's and '70's was a hot bed of political activity and awakening for students of color and, against her parents' wishes, she settled into a black house where she could find her authentic self.

Like most political figures, Valerie Jarrett earned a law degree. She was soon working in a corner office overlooking Lake Michigan, making more money than she ever could have imagined, yet she was feeling unfulfilled and, like so many working moms, terribly guilty about the dearth of time she had left over to share with her beloved daughter Laura. 

Without telling you her entire story, let's just say that Jarrett found her calling to public service in Chicago's department of planning and development. Soon she was working a couple of doors down from Mayor Washington's office, and after his untimely death, she stayed on as deputy to Mayor Daley. That's when a stellar resume crossed her desk attached to a personal note from a trusted friend that read, "Very impressive! Bright, mature, interested in public service." 

The next day Valerie Jarrett interviewed Michelle Robinson. The rest is history.

Jarrett became best friend and confident to the future Michelle Obama and her fiancé, Barack Obama and for the past thirty years that relationship has held steady and true. She is the rock, the big sister, the strategic thinker, and the organizer behind the winning and losing campaigns and the president's most trusted advisor in the West Wing. When she describes the three of them sipping martinis on the Truman balcony after the funeral of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, devastated by the results of increasing gun violence and their failure to stop it, I pictured the Roosevelts sitting there decades earlier considering whether or not to enter the world war.

Valerie Jarrett has lived an amazing life, beyond her wildest dreams, yet her voice is still awe-filled with what she deems the luck that has come her way. Now that she's found her voice, I wonder what will come next?