Know about Dr. Jill Biden: First Lady Education, Events, White House

Jill Biden, Professor, honour teachers in her first official event as first lady

"Dr. B," aka first lady Jill Biden, began her life as first lady Thursday evening with a virtual event to honour teachers, among whom she has counted herself for decades.

The 20-minute event was a heartfelt paean to the work of educators, embellished with a promise that she, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are on the side of teachers and their unions, who helped win the election for the new administration. 

"The first lady of the United States is one of your own," Biden said. "Thank you for all that you do in the day-to-day. It's not always recognized how much your work matters, but it does... Student by student, you are changing the world. "

The first lady convened a meeting with teachers union presidents of the American Federation of Teachers, and Becky Pringle, of the National Education Association, to pay tribute to educators and celebrate the start of what the first lady described as a pro-teachers Biden administration. 

Wearing a claret-coloured dress with long ropes of pearls around her neck, Biden hailed the actions that "Joe" has taken already (she said she's still getting used to calling him president). These include signing executive orders establishing a national strategy to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, and pledging the resources to help re-open most K-12 schools safely within 100 days.

"He's following the science and best practices, and he will be engaging with educators, all of you and your unions," Biden said. "He has a national strategy for COVID-19 response and safely reopening schools is critical for that plan." 

It was not a coincidence that the teaching profession was highlighted on Biden's first full day of her unpaid job: Her paid job, which she also held as second lady during the Obama administration, is teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College in suburban Washington. 

It's also not a coincidence that Biden, a professor of literature, was the one to spot the talent of Amanda Gorman, 22, and recommend her as the inaugural poet – the youngest ever. Her recitation of her poem “The Hill We Climb” left everyone gasping in admiration.

Biden has indicated that she will continue advocating for teachers and students, and especially those at community colleges, placing education at the top of her agenda.

Her voice, already amplified by her FLOTUS platform, will be further enhanced by her vow to continue working as "Dr. B," as her students know her (she has a doctorate in education): She'll be the first FLOTUS in the role's 231-year history to pursue her career and keep a paying job while serving in the White House as first lady.

The two union presidents could not say enough good things about the first lady, the president and the vice president.

"The president told me to call him Joe on the campaign trail but we all worked too hard to make sure we call him President Biden, so that’s what I’m going to call him," joked Pringle, whose union has 3 million members. 

"We knew we had a partner in the White House, and he didn't come by himself: We also have Vice President Harris and Dr. Jill Biden, an educator who is still teaching."

Weingarten, the politically savvy long time leader of the second-largest teachers' union, with about 1.7 million members, also pledged to work with the Biden team. 

"Today is a moment when educators feel respected," Weingarten said. "We're working with an educator in the White House, someone who walks in our shoes, who knows the challenges and aspirations of our children. That is more than I can ever have imagined before this moment."

Biden said now is the time to seize the moment.

"I promised you would always have seat at the table and I meant it," she said. "Educators, this is our moment, because we know how to turn chaos into something beautiful – we do it every day in our classrooms."

In the morning, Biden joined her husband and Harris  for a socially distanced presidential prayer service in the State Dining Room at the White House. The service, a tradition dating back to the first inauguration of President George Washington, went virtual this year due to the pandemic. 

Jill Biden's fashion choices were subtle but purposeful on Inauguration Day

Kamala Harris arrive at the East Front of the US Capitol for his inauguration ceremony to be the 46th President of the United States in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2021.

First lady Jill Biden did not disappoint, quietly signalling she knows exactly how to harness the soft power potential of fashion in the three looks she wore to mark the occasion. Nodding to emerging design talent, sustainable fashion and multiculturalism, her choices hit all the right notes and contributed to a growing sense among onlookers that fashion diplomacy has returned to the American political stage.

Purple unity

On the eve of the inauguration, while attending a memorial for the 400,000 victims of Covid-19 in the US, the first lady opted for a dress and coat combo by Jonathan Cohen, an independent New York designer known for championing sustainability and zero-waste design.

The coat, which was made from fabric scraps from Cohen's studio, was a magenta hue of purple -- a combination of Democratic blue and Republican red that has long been understood as the color of bipartisanship. One of the official colors of the women's suffrage movement, purple would later become a theme amongst a number of high-profile attendees on Inauguration Day, including Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Support for young talent

On the morning of the ceremony, Biden stepped out wearing a fresh blue tweed coat with velvet cuffs and a dress embellished with Swarovski crystals and pearls. The outfit came complete with a matching face mask and was the work of another emerging designer, Colorado-born Alexandra O'Neill of the American label Markarian. In a statement sent to CNN Style, the designer said, "It is an incredible honour to dress Dr. Biden today. I am so humbled to be even a small part of American history."

For the inauguration concert later in the evening, the first lady wore an all-white outfit comprising a dress, coat and matching white gloves by Gabriela Hearst.

The Uruguay-born, New York-based designer has been a vocal advocate for responsible design since launching her eponymous womenswear brand in 2015. Hearst was also recently announced as the new creative director of luxury fashion house.

At the presidential debate last September, Biden sported a Gabriela Hearst dress she had worn three years prior, in a nod to the worsening climate crisis and our need to be more conscious about how we consume fashion.

Dr. Jill Biden Education & Career:

First Lady Jill Biden: community college educator, military mother & grandmother, and wife of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. 

More about Dr. Jill Biden Education & Career is given below at a glance

Dr. Jill Biden Education & Career:
#	Dr. Jill Biden Education & Career
1	Dr. Jill Biden, Ed.D., is the First Lady of the United States, a community college educator, and bestselling author. Dr. Biden also served as Second Lady of the United States from 2009–2017.
2	Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden was born on June 3, 1951, in Hammonton, New Jersey, to Bonny Jean Godfrey Jacobs and Donald Carl Jacobs. The oldest of five daughters, she grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. She graduated from Upper Moreland High School in 1969, then graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1975.
3	In 1975, she met then-Senator Joe Biden. They married at the United Nations Chapel in New York City in 1977 and she became the mother of his two sons, Beau and Hunter. Their daughter, Ashley, was born in 1981.
4	In 1976, Jill Biden began teaching English at St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington. She then became a reading specialist at Claymont High School. At that time, she was also pursuing a Master of Education with a specialty in reading from West Chester University. She completed her first master’s degree in 1981.
5	Jill Biden taught English at Rockford Centre psychiatric hospital while also pursuing a Master of Arts in English from Villanova University. In 1993, she accepted a job at Delaware Technical Community College. In 2007, she received a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership from the University of Delaware.
6	When Joe Biden became Vice President and the Bidens moved to Washington, DC, Dr. Biden continued her career at Northern Virginia Community College, teaching throughout their eight years in office.