Valerie Jarrett

She got married to childhood friend, William Robert Jarrett, son of Chicago Sun-Times reporter Vernon Jarrett, in 1983, with whom she had a daughter, Laura. The couple separated in 1987 and ended their relationship with a divorce in 1988.

Valerie Jarrett was born as Valerie June Bowman Jarrett on November 14, 1956, in Shiraz, Iran, to African-American expatriates James E. Bowman and Barbara Taylor Bowman, a childhood development expert.

She spent most of her childhood traveling abroad since her father was a pathologist and geneticist who helped developing countries in setting up health care systems, as part of a US aid program.

In 1961, the family moved to London, after which they traveled to Chicago in 1963 and settled in Hyde Park neighborhood.

She completed her schooling from Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1974 and graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1978.

She earned her Juris Doctorate in law from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.

She started practicing law at a Chicago-based private firm after graduating in 1981, which she continued till 1987, until her daughter’s birth.

In 1987, she entered politics as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development under Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington.

After Washington’s sudden death in 1991, she continued to work under the newly-appointed Richard Daley as deputy chief of staff, during which she recruited Michelle Robinson, the then-fiancé of Barack Obama.

She ended her tenure under Daley as city planning commissioner in 1995 to enter real-estate development and management firm, The Habitat Company, of which she later became the CEO and President.

She served as the chairperson of Chicago Transit Authority during 1995-2003 and chaired the board of Chicago Stock Exchange from 2004 through 2007.

She was appointed as Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, handling public engagement, urban affairs and intergovernmental affairs at the White House, in November 2008.

She is believed to have advised President Obama to cancel the killing of al-Qaeda leader and terrorist, Osama bin Laden, three times in 2011 in the wake of the probable political damage, just in case the mission failed.

Despite little experience in international affairs, she was found to be making secret negotiations with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representatives in order to stabilize relations between the two nations, in October 2011.