Michelle Obama Makes Forbes’ Most Powerful Women List

Our First Lady has been announced as No. 40 on the newly-announced Forbes 100 list of most powerful women in the world.

“Not only is she a First Lady, she’s the first African-American First Lady and that accords her a certain amount of power,” said Heidi Brown, a ForbesWoman staffer who helped compile the list. Brown admitted that when selecting candidates, how much attention the honoree receives is taken into consideration. “She’s done a lot to get her message out,” Brown said. “She’s been effective at reaching out not only to the media, but to regular people as well.”

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However, Michelle isn’t the only White House resident to have been ranked on the list. Other members of the Obama administration were included: Homeland Security honcho Janet Napolitano at #51, SEC chief Mary Schapiro at #55, and Health and Human Services head Kathleen Sebelius at #56. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was 36th – down from the 28th spot she occupied on the list last year when she was a presidential candidate. Also, newly sworn-in Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor made her debut in 54th place.

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Check out our First Lady 100 days of fashion gallery:

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