Yesterday was unlike any other Tuesday. Why? Because I had the opportunity to go see Michelle Obama speak. She is everything and more. I received a lot of replies to my social media stories and questions about the event so I decided to write a quick blog post about it all!

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How did you get tickets?

I was fortunate enough to have an amazing friend who won tickets and invited me to join her! A big shout out goes to Emma! The event was held in the hockey arena at the Mattamy Athletics Centre at Ryerson. The regular seats were all occupied by girls, boys, men, and women who had won tickets or school groups who were involved with the charities. The seats “on the ice” were where all the “dignitaries” sat. We saw Jagmeet Singh, Norm Kelly, Jeannie Baker, Penny Oleksiak and Pinball Clemons to name just a few. The seats they were occupying I heard went from anywhere between $5000 to $10,000.

How was the event structured?

We were ushered to our seats at 10:30 while the main event did not start till 11:30 and went until 1:15. The event opened with some beautiful poetry and was followed by an emotional performance of ‘Quiet‘ by Milck. Chief R. Stacey Laforme of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nations shared a few words. The main opening remarks were made by the President and CEO of The Economic Club who would also be moderating Michelle’s talk. Oh, and did I mention that Sophie Gregoire Trudeau also made an appearance on stage?

HOW WAS MICHELLE OBAMA?

She. Was. Freaking. Amazing. No. Words. To. Describe. SHE IS ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING. I could go on and on and on about her. Michelle is by far one of the best if not the best public speakers I have ever seen. She is poised, intelligent, witty, beautiful and funny.

The talk was based on equality but of course, this encompasses many different topics around it. I decided to share some of my favourite quotes of hers from yesterday. Enjoy!

When talking about running for president (don’t get your hopes up I don’t think she will). She talks about how change doesn’t happen from one person at the top.

Change happens from the bottom up not the top down.

When discussing racism and how she reacts when she hears certain things directed towards her.

If somebody attacks me, the first thing I think about is what happened to them.

Another topic she discussed was social media and how we shouldn’t be tweeting the first thing that comes to mind…hmm that relates to someone else we all know. She told us how whenever she posts from her social media accounts she discusses it with her team, they draft it, then go back and discuss, then edit, discuss some more, rewrite it and then maybe just maybe they post it. Michelle reminded us that we don’t have to share our entire personal lives on social media, especially not the first thought that comes to mind. Because once it’s out there it’s there forever.

Michelle being the amazing woman she is even talked about how she hears girls talking and trying to decipher what boys have texted. So many things can be misunderstood via text so her advice to us…

Call. The. Boy.

^^^unless he’s one of ‘those’ boys then DON’T CALL HIM.

And by far my favourite quote of the day.

Don’t make yourself small because other people don’t know how to be big.

Thank you, Michelle Obama, for everything you do and for who you are.

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If you have any other questions in regards to the event that I didn’t cover please feel free to contact me here or tweet me.