Finding My Voice

Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward by Valerie Jarrett
PaperBack Book:  496 pages       

I enjoyed learning the background on Valerie Jarrett and her rise to the White House with the Obama Administration.   She was born in Iran - her father, a doctor at a time in America's past when it was hard for a black man to achieve the same status as a white man even in the medical field, accepted a position in Iran and enjoyed his status of  Dr. free from the then still segregated United States racial bias.   Ms. Jarrett shares her own personal story of growing up in first Iran then coming to America and after adjusting to the culture shock and the bullies beating her up for being different - looking too white, speaking the language with a posh English accent, etc., yet, encouraged by her parents to do her best and supported by her family who all wanted to see her achieve all of her dreams.    She was lucky enough to achieve everything she went for, wife, mother, lawyer, community activist, business leader, public servant and government leader.   She met Michelle Robinson first who later became Michelle Obama.   She met Barack through Michelle and they all 3 became fast friends to this date.  She eventually went to work for the Obama campaign playing a large and in charge role in getting Barack Obama elected twice.   They weathered the good and the bad during the two tours of duty as President and many historical events transpired during their working together (the capture of Osama Bin Ladin; Health Care for the Masses, Gay Marriage, etc.) all through which the friendship and the kudus for a job well-done as senior advisor to the president and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison.     She adds personal memories, conversations, good and bad to give the reader a glimpse at the insider's take on the very public and also the personal life of the Obamas as well as her own.   A good book, I would recommend it to all who love biographies, to history and political buffs, and to those who going through their own struggles in life learn from a black woman who came from her birth in Iran to becoming the best friend and advisor to the most important man in the U.S. and the world stage.    An inspiring and well told journey of one woman's struggles and rise to fame.   Well done, Valerie Jarrett.