White House farewell

Inauguration Day in America inspires hope for the incoming presidency, as well as reflection about the outgoing one. Inauguration 2017 will be no different for one Skidmore alum, as she leaves the White House after almost a decade.

Melissa Winter ’89 was Michelle Obama’s first hire during then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2007. An art history major with a French minor, Winter was no stranger to Washington, D.C.: as a student, she held two summer internships on Capitol Hill. Those helped pave the way to a job with Sen. Joe Lieberman. It was in the Senate that she met the Obamas. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Winter has spent the last eight years working in the East Wing as Michelle Obama’s deputy chief of staff. “Mel has been by my side from Day One,” the First Lady told The Washington Post. “For the past decade she has been one of my most trusted advisors and dearest friends.”

Now, as the Obamas look to their next chapter, Winter is leading the transition team for FLOTUS. There’s talk of memoirs and speaking engagements, but also some much-needed time out of the public spotlight: as Winter says, the overarching strategy for Mrs. Obama is “sometimes less is more.”

Check out the cover photo @FLOTUS: that's Melissa Winter '89, deputy chief of staff, sporting her #Skidmore apparel! pic.twitter.com/Et7OqXM9Xf

— Skidmore College (@SkidmoreCollege) June 16, 2015