Latest news with #MomentsThatMakeUs
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
Former President Obama shares rare family photo on daughter Sasha's 24th birthday
The Obama family marked Sasha Obama's 24th birthday this week with a celebratory and rare family photo. Former President Barack Obama shared birthday wishes for his youngest daughter, writing in an Instagram post Tuesday, "Happy birthday, Sasha! Watching you grow into the incredible woman you are has been a true gift. I'll always be proud of you and will always be here for you." Michelle Obama also shared the same picture of the family, who are all smiling in the snapshot. "Happy birthday to my sweet girl, Sasha!" the former first lady captioned her Instagram post. "Can't believe how quickly time has flown. I'm so proud of the woman you've become. Love you always! 💕🥳🎉." Sasha Obama was born in June 2001, nearly eight years before the family moved into the White House for the former president's first term in January 2009. She and her older sister Malia Obama, now 26, grew up in the presidential home for eight years, during their father's two terms in office, until 2017. In a July 2024 interview with Melinda French Gates' podcast, "Moments That Make Us," Michelle Obama opened up about raising her daughters at the White House during their formative years. "Well, those girls had to be smart and confident and independent straight away, even when they were living in a house with butlers and maids and florists," she said. "But I was raising them thinking, 'You're not going to live here, and with me, forever. So I've got to hand you your life soon and let you manage it.'" Sasha Obama graduated from the University of Southern California in May 2023, and Malia Obama, who graduated from Harvard University in 2021, now works in the film and TV industry. Her short film, "The Heart," premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
CNBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Stop avoiding change because it's 'uncomfortable,' says Melinda French Gates—her tactic for being resilient in tough moments
Billionaire philanthropist and investor Melinda French Gates is no stranger to major life changes and uncomfortable transitions. "I've gone through a tremendous amount of transition," she said on an April 15 episode of Simon Sinek's "A Bit of Optimism" podcast. "I left a marriage. I left the foundation. I've struck out on my own in philanthropy ... There's so much to learn in [any] transition, and so much growth that can happen." To get through those tough moments, French Gates did something simple, she said: She surrounded herself with people who she could trust. Their outside perspective — whether it related to her divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2021, leaving the nonprofit Gates Foundation in June 2024 or any other big transition — helped her get out of her own head, and make smarter decisions amid the turmoil, she added. "I surrounded myself with people who know how to hold space for me to be uncomfortable," said French Gates, who now runs investment and philanthropy organization Pivotal Ventures. "I surrounded myself with good friends who reminded me, 'We don't know where you're going, but you will be OK.'" When French Gates first considered ending her marriage, her three closest friends were the first to know, and they immediately offered support, she told Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King in a July 24 episode of French Gates' "Moments That Make Us" YouTube series. "They are my truth counsel. Whenever I'm going to make a really hard decision or make a big transition, I know I have to have the courage to tell them," French Gates said, adding that she wouldn't have made it through her divorce without them. "You actually need a friend who will tell you the truth, even when you don't want to hear it." Uncomfortable truths can be valuable, French Gates noted. Give yourself time to "sit in that uncomfortable space" and think about your options, so you can make healthy long-term decisions without doing something you might later regret, she recommended. If you know you want to leave your employer, for example, you might want to immediately submit job applications to other companies. Without taking the time to consider what the "right" job for you looks like, you could end up accidentally chasing another unfulfilling circumstances require you to reflect for longer than others. French Gates lets herself "go through those cycles of grief, anger, denial, and you go through them multiple times," she said. "You don't just go through them and [say], 'Oh. Done. Cleaned up with that' ... That would be lovely, but you don't." The skill of sitting with your emotions, instead of burying or avoiding them, is what Yale lecturer and psychologist Emma Seppälä calls "emotional sovereignty." It's a "critical skill" that people with high emotional intelligence use to make better decisions and stay mentally resilient, Seppälä wrote for CNBC Make It in April 2024. "Notice how fast children get over emotions. The tantrum happens; they scream at the top of their lungs. They cry 100%. Two minutes later they're done. Sovereign once again," she wrote. "They feel their feelings and let the emotions flow through them. As the saying goes, 'feel it to heal it.'" The next time you're facing a tough, uncomfortable situation, practice "patience, acceptance and self-compassion," Seppälä recommended. "Let the emotions wash over you like a wave that comes, keeps you underwater for a bit, but eventually passes so you can resurface and take a breath of fresh air." After a while, you may become less weary about uncomfortable transitions altogether. "You find yourself on the other side far more resilient," French Gates said. "At least in my case, I'm way less afraid of change now. I'm much more like, 'Bring it on.'"
