‘If a Bunch of White Guys Are Sitting Around the Table Trying to Get More Women Involved, They’re Not Going to Come Up With the Answer’
Michelle Obama has kept her relatively low profile after leaving the White House in January, but the former First Lady did speak at a tech conference this week. Asked how she views the world right now, The Salt Lake Tribune reports she “cringed and quietly groaned,” and then told the audience at the event hosted by PluralSight that “we are looking at two different administrations.â€
Why?
“One, she said, was built on hope. The other is being led with fear.”
“It isn’t just us first,†she said, a reference to Trump’s “America First†agenda. “We live in a big country and a big world. … You can’t just want to help someone in a hurricane and not make sure they can go to the doctor when they’re sick.â€
One audience member shouted that the former First Lady – who is also an attorney and author with a BA from Princeton and a law degree from Harvard – should run for president.
“Oh no! That’s still shocking. Like what? Are you kidding me? No,†Obama told the audience. “No, running for office is nowhere on the radar screen but continuing in public service is something I will do for the rest of my life.â€
She told the audience that the tech industry needs more women. Just one in five tech industry employees are women.
“You can’t just say you want to fix the problems, you have to mean it,†the former First Lady said. “If a bunch of white guys are sitting around the table trying to get more women involved, they’re not going to come up with the answer.â€
Instagram user laurenlang89 posted the above photo to the social media site. She wrote, “Today I had the absolute honour and privilege to see the former First Lady, Michelle Obama, speak to us at my company’s first user conference in America. What a caring, admirable and respectable woman – I’m absolutely inspired hearing her talk about Education and skill gaps. A truly amazing experience and one I will treasure.”
Thursday’s event was closed to the press and there do not appear to be any videos.
More images of Michelle Obama at the Pluralsight event, via Instagram, below.Â
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