Born on October 26, 1947, Hillary was raised in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, in a middle-class home. Her father, Hugh, was a WWII veteran and a small business owner who created and sold drapes. Her mother, Dorothy, had a tough childhood and was forced to be independent at an early age. She had to support herself by working multiple jobs during high school. Hugh’s hard work ethics and commitment and Dorothy’s experience inspired Hillary to become extremely dedicated to fight for the needs of children worldwide.

Unlike her mother, Hillary lived in a very stable and safe middle-class life. She was never exposed to the reality and hardships of other until she went on a trip to Chicago with her youth ministry. There, Hillary go to see Martin Luther King Jr speak, and this sparked her passion for social justice. When she went to Wellesley College, Hillary became very involved with social justice activism and was a prominent student leader on campus. She was even elected by her peers to be the first student speaker at Wellesley’s commencement ceremony.

Hillary’s next chapter in life was at Yale Law School, where she was one of the 27 women in her graduating class. At Yale, Hillary also began dating one of her peers, Bill Clinton. Right out of law school, Hillary chose to work for the Children’s Defense Fund. She went door-to-door to gather stories about the lack of schooling for disabled children. Her work and testimonials collected lead to a passage of legislation that required the state to provide quality education for student with disabilities.

On October 11, 1975, Hillary and Bill got married in an intimate ceremony in Fayettenville, Arkansas. In 1980, Chelsea was born, and she and Bill started their family journey together. As first lady of Arkansas, she was dedicated to improving educational standards and health care access. When Bill became president in 1992, Hillary stepped up as a first lady and fought hard to reform our health care system. She wanted to make sure that everyone had access to affordable health care. However, she was defeated by insurance companies and special interests. However, Hillary continued to fight. She worked hard to create the successful Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides more than 8 million children health coverage. In 1995 at the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Woman, Hillary led the U.S. delegation there in Beijing. She gave a powerful speech and declared that, “human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights once and for all”.

In 2000, Hillary was elected to the U.S. Senate. After 9/11, she fought to provide health care for responders who were at Ground Zero and she made sure that $20 billion was secured to rebuild New York. In 2008, Hillary ran for president. She lost against Barack Obama, but she campaigned for him afterwards to ensure that a Democrat was in the White House. President Obama trusted Hillary that he even asked her to serve as his secretary of state. She created new sanctions against Iran and negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that ended a war and protected Israel’s security. She was a strong advocate for human rights, social justice, equal rights and opportunities for women, LGBT people, and people all across the world.

In 2014, Hillary took on a new role: grandmother to Chelsea’s daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. On April 12, 2015, Hillary announced her decision to run for President. And this June, she welcomed her grandson, Aidan Clinton Mezvinsky, to the family too.