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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.”

Does the First Lady have the right to bare legs?

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.

Obamas make Vanity Fair’s best dressed list

Check out our First Lady 100 days of fashion gallery:

Check it out!

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.