Remarks by the First Lady at Annual Cooper Hewitt Luncheon

The White House

Office of the First Lady

For Immediate Release

September 30, 2014

East Room

1:08 P.M. EDT

MRS. OBAMA: Well, good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the White House. Yay! (Applause.) See, I always have to loosen you guys up. Youre in the White House, youre a little stiff. (Laughter.) But let me just take a moment to notice these nice chairs -- pretty nice. This is a new addition to the luncheon, those of you who have been here. (Laughter.) This is -- round of applause. (Applause.)

Well, it is truly a pleasure to be here with all of you today as we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the National Design Awards. And I have been fortunate enough to be here for -- this is my 6th year that weve had the pleasure of hosting this event here in the East Room. And every year, I truly look forward to learning more about the honorees. I mean, I get to read everything, but then, every now and then, I get to sit down and talk to you guys and actually learn a little bit about how you do what you do.

And what I discover is that these men and women are some of the most daring and creative minds in the world. From a designer at Google whos using data and crowd-sourcing to create art that will take your breath away, to the former Hollywood set designers who are now creating some of the most unique buildings and interiors that youll ever see -- and they like each other, I think. (Laughter.) And then theres this fashion designer whose parents tried to convince him to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or a dentist, or something like that. And Im sure that I speak for all women -- (laughter) -- when I say that Im grateful that Narciso chose another path. (Laughter and applause.) Well done.

And its that idea of a path -- a lifes journey -- that Id like to spend just a moment reflecting on. Because every year at this event, I love asking our honorees how they ended up in these cool careers in the first place. And more often than not, they tell me some crazy, quirky, interesting story about a string of coincidences that led them here today - a chance meeting that turned into a partnership or business; a passion that no one ever dreamed they could actually make a living from; a mentor, a teacher, a family member who sort of led them into the career.

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Remarks by the First Lady at Annual Cooper Hewitt Luncheon