A Lil Positivity: Michelle Obama Brings Girl Power To Harlem

The First Lady Said Educating Girls Was One Of The Biggest Challenges Facing The Globe

First Lady Michelle Obama came to Harlem Tuesday to spread the message that all girls deserve access to education.

On the heels of launching her #62MillionGirls education campaign, Obama joined actress Charlize Theron, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Glamour magazine editor Cindi Lieve at the Apollo Theater for a panel on the need to teach millions of girls around the world who were not in school.

“It’s my mission,” Obama said, “to make sure that every girl on the planet has the same opportunity that I’ve had, that my daughters have, and I want to make sure that all of you, here in the United States, are taking advantage of the opportunities you have as well. I want you to be that hungry, to get your education, because it’s going to be the key to your future.”’

More than 1,000 school girls packed the Apollo Theater in Harlem for the chat, where Obama said it’s critical that the 62 million girls around the world who were not in school get back into the classroom.

“I believe that world poverty, world hunger, health issues —all of this stuff, lies in the empowerment of young women, young girls,” said Obama, whose government-led initiative, Let Girls Learn, uses community-based programs to get and keep girls in school.

Tuesday’s talk had no shortage of star power: Chicago PD actress Sophia Bush kicked off the event with a speech about how her time in school opened her eyes to life’s possibilities, and pop stars Nico and Vinz brought the crowd to their feet with their hit song, “Am I Wrong.” But Obama was the one the girls came to see, and they gave her a standing ovation as she walked out onto the Apollo Theater stage.

“You are our next future leaders, our entrepreneurs, our mothers,” the First Lady told the crowd. “This is no joke. This issue is probably one of the most important issues we should be tackling on the planet.”

Obama said girls aren’t in school because of issues like teen pregnancy, poverty, early marriage and relatives who don’t see the need to teach females.

Gillard, who was Australia’s first female Prime Minister when she served from 2010 to 2013, said girls who stay in school longer are less likely to enter forced marriages or be teenage moms.

“Nations that we think now of as places of poverty and places of disorder, could be on a path to peace and prosperity because we’re educating the children, especially, girls,” Gillard said.

Teaching girls around the world is an important cause for Theron, who said education would help stem the AIDS scourge ravaging her native South Africa.

“For me, it’s more personal coming from a country where more people are living with HIV/AIDS than anywhere else in the world,” Theron said. “Education is actually saving lives.”

As the talk wound down, one student in the audience asked what the panelists thought about the idea that boys liked girls who weren’t that smart.

Obama’s response? Keep your heads in your books.

“There is no boy at this age, that is cute enough or interesting enough to stop you from getting your education,” the First Lady said. “If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute at your age, I wouldn’t be married to the President of the United States.”