In a first for a first lady, Michelle Obama edits More Magazine

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 12 June 2015

Michelle Obama can now add editor to her long list of accomplishments.

The first lady guest-edited the July-August issue of More Magazine, which will hit newsstands June 23. More's editor-in-chief, Lesley Jane Seymour, told The Associated Press that "there's never been a first lady who's ever guest-edited a magazine and certainly not a sitting first lady." Obama pitched ideas, wrote articles — including a review of Elizabeth Alexander's The Light of the World and a reflective piece on being "mom in chief" — and approved copy for the 148-page issue, Seymour said. She "was reading every page and asking for changes up until the last minute.... She had to approve absolutely everything. She had to suggest various things, too."

The issue's theme is "More Impact," and Obama, who was not compensated, focused on issues close to her, including supporting military families and encouraging young people to further their education after high school. "What I want readers to understand is that impact comes in all forms, shapes, and sizes," Obama said in a statement. "And hopefully through this issue, what people will see is that you can have impact as a military mom changing careers, or you can be a young person starting a business, or you can be the first lady and start a whole initiative."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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