Former first lady Michelle Obama said Friday that her upcoming memoir will seek to give a voice to underrepresented communities by sharing the "ordinariness" of her journey to the White House.
Obama told a crowd at the American Library Association's annual conference in New Orleans on Friday that her soon-to-be-released book, "Becoming," is a "re-humanization effort" for America's downtrodden, The Associated Press reported.
"We had butlers and housekeepers at the White House, but my mother would tell them, 'Don't touch my underwear. I got it,'" Obama told the audience, to laughs. "She's the one who taught my girls how to do laundry. She keeps us humble and focused on what's important. She's also my sounding board. She'll sit and just listen and then ask me, 'What do you think you should do about that?'"
"My parents had a strong sense of how to parent and taught us at an early age to figure it out," Obama added. "They let us know, that as children, our opinions mattered. But they encouraged us to contribute to the solution. You could air it out, but you had to be the one to solve whatever it was."
During her remarks, the former first lady was candid about how her husband's meteoric career forced her, at times, to put her own on hold.
"I didn't come into (being first lady) with a blank slate," she said. "I had big jobs. I went to Princeton. I went to Harvard. I am a lawyer. But as Barack's ascent got faster and higher, I had to figure out and balance marriage and balance becoming a spouse. I've learned that you can have it all, but not all at the same time."
"You weren't meant to parent in isolation," Obama added, addressing young mothers. "It truly takes a village to raise children. Build your village wherever you are. It will be your salvation and keep you sane," she said.
Obama's book is set to release in November and is being published by Crown Publishing Group, a Penguin Random House division.
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