page_title: Valerie Jarrett
section_title: Relationship with the Obamas
hierarchical_section_title: Valerie Jarrett / Career / Relationship with the Obamas
caption_attribution_description: President Barack Obama and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett chat outside the Oval Office in the White House, June 12, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) License on Flickr (2011-01-22): United States Government Work Flickr tags: Washington, D.C., USA
context_page_description: Valerie June Jarrett is an American businesswoman and former government official. She served as the senior advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama and assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs from 2009 to 2017. Before that, she served as a co-chair of the Obama–Biden Transition Project.
context_section_description: In 1991, as deputy chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley, Jarrett interviewed Michelle Robinson for an opening in the mayor's office, after which she immediately offered Robinson the job. Robinson asked for time to think and also asked Jarrett to meet her fiancé, Barack Obama. The three ended up meeting for dinner. After the dinner, Robinson accepted the job with the mayor's office. It was at this time that Jarrett reportedly took the couple under her wing and "introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own." When Jarrett later left her position at the mayor's office to head the Chicago department of planning and development, Michelle Obama went with her.
caption: Obama speaks with Jarrett in a West Wing corridor
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