Who's sitting with the First Lady at the SOTU?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Who’s sitting with the First Lady at the SOTU?

I still have not received my invite. I’m guessing I’ll get a text from the First Lady soon about how my invitation was lost in the mail. Or maybe I’ll sit on my couch at home. Alone.

Jill Biden: wife of Vice President Joe Biden.
Valerie Jarrett: senior adviser to the president.
Sgt. Ashleigh Berg: Berg has served two tours of duty in Iraq while her husband is on his third combat tour in Afghanistan.
Alicia Boler-Davis: Plant manager of General Motors’ Orion Assembly, Boler-Davis led President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea on a tour of the planty in Detroit.
Debbie Bosanek: Warren Buffett’s secretary for almost two decades, made famous by her billionaire boss for paying a higher tax rate than he does.
Jackie Bray: A single mother, Bray was laid off from her job as a packaging mechanic. She enrolled in community college and was hired by Siemens after her graduation.
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro: Castro, 37, is the youngest mayor of a top 50 American city.
Bruce Cochrane: Cochrane’s family furniture story was sold in 1997, and the new owners moved production to China. Two years ago, Cochrane formed a furniture production company in his home state of North Carolina, and it is expected to add 130 new jobs to the area.
Sara Ferguson: Ferguson is a third-generation educator. When her school district faced bankruptcy earlier this year, Ferguson vowed to continue teaching even without pay.
Hiroyuki Fujita: Fujita has formed two technology companies that have created jobs in the health care and energy sectors of Ohio.
Mahala Greer: Greer, a recent college graduate, will enter into Teach for America’s Bilingual Educaton program. She spoke to President Obama last year regarding the need to reduce student debt.
Adrienne Howard: A military spouse from Virginia, Howard reached out to her community to “adopt” sailors on the Joining Forces blog.
Mike Krieger: Krieger is the cofounder of Insta-gram, the fastest-growing social media start-up in the United States. Born in Brazil, he came to the Unitd States on a student visa and has applied for a green card.
Retired Navy Capt. Mark Kelly: American astronaut Mark Kelly gained prominence as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s husband.
Lorelei Kilker: An analytical chemist, Kilker benefited from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s investigation of systematic sex discrimination.
Navy Adm. William McRaven: McRaven assumed command of the Joint Special Operations Command in 2008.
Joan Milligan: Milligan and her husband utilized the Home Affordable Refinance Program to save their house from foreclosure.
Amber Morris: Morris responded to the White House’s question of “what does $40 mean to you?” She graduated from Northeastern Law School in 2008 but was unable to find a job in her field.
Laurene Powell Jobs: Steve Jobs’s widow, Laurene, serves as founder of Emerson Collective, an organization that attempts to harness the potential of underprivileged individuals. She also is president of College Track, which prepares underserved students for college.
Adam Rapp: Without the Affordable Care Act, Rapp would have lost his health insurance on his 23rd birthday, the same day he was diagnosed with cancer.
Juan Jose Redin: A beneficiary of California’s Assembly Bill 540, Redin, a Mexican immigrant, was able to excel in education and is now a practicing attorney.
Bryan Ritterby: Laid off after 25 years of working in the furniture-manufacturing industry, Ritterby went through a technician training program and was subsequently hired by a start-up as a composite technician.
Air Force Col. Ginger Wallace: Wallace led airlift missions during Operations Southern Watch; Provide Relief; Uphold Democracy; Allied Force; Enduring Freedom; and Iraqi Freedom. She lives with her partner in Virginia. After the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” her partner was able to participate in Wallace’s promotion ceremony.