Former United States First Lady Michelle Obama may no longer be living in the White House but her social influence is still apparent to this day. Proof of this is the news that she’s recently topped the list of 2019’s world’s most admired woman.
Power Couple
The names on the list were determined by a study done by the British market research company, YouGov. The company reportedly polled around 42,000 people from 41 countries asking which public figures they admired the most. Topping the poll is Michelle, who also surpassed actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie.
The former first lady is closely followed on the list by television personality and media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who secured the second spot. Meanwhile, Jolie, who ranked first in the previous year’s list, went down to the third spot. Completing the top five are Queen Elizabeth II and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ actress and United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson, respectively.
Also sharing Michelle’s recognition is her husband, former United States President Barack Obama, who reportedly ranked second on the most admired list’s men’s edition.
Counterpart List
Speaking of which, the number one spot of the men’s category was clinched by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The billionaire has been holding the spot as the world’s most admired man for five years in a row now.
Aside from founding one of the most successful and influential tech companies in the world, Gates has been busy with a personal endeavor called ‘The Giving Pledge’. Launched in 2009 by Gates together with his friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffet, the Pledge’s goal is to persuade the richest people in the world to pledge at least half of their wealth to charitable causes.
A decade later, a total of $500 billion has reportedly been pledged and money has been donated to various causes.
Michelle’s Legacy
Once considered to be a possible liability during her husband’s first campaign for the presidency, the mother of two, later on, proved herself to those who doubted her. As the first lady, she spurred and headed various successful public initiatives that focused on making the nation healthier and improving access to education. In fact, Michelle, who’s also a lawyer by profession, became so popular with the American public that a social media outcry for her to run for president happened around the time after the 2016 presidential elections.
However, it seems that the 55-year-old has other things in mind. For one, she’s busy traveling to promote her bestselling book, ‘Becoming‘, which also broke sales records in the United States after its release last year. What more, she and Barack have recently signed a deal with the online streaming platform Netflix to produce a list of movies and shows discussing important societal topics.