--- title: Obama Advisor Valerie Jarrett's Speech at Spelman College description: Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, encouraged graduates at Spelman College to "engage" canonical: https://time.com/4788154/valerie-jarrett-president-barack-obama-spelman-college-graduation-commencement-2/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-22T15:29:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:02:57.222Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Read Valerie Jarrett's Remarks at Spelman College Graduation og:description: "Challenge the status quo" og:url: https://time.com/4788154/valerie-jarrett-president-barack-obama-spelman-college-graduation-commencement-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte374b42b256a43f4/69889275196cf477ce03b877/valerie-jarrett-career-plan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2012 Federal Partners Bullying Prevention Summit - Day 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Valerie Jarrett's Remarks at Spelman College Graduation twitter:description: "Challenge the status quo" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte374b42b256a43f4/69889275196cf477ce03b877/valerie-jarrett-career-plan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Obama Adviser Valerie Jarrett: 'Tell Your Story. It Is What Makes You Who You Are' by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 22, 2017 3:29 PM UTC  White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett participates in a panel discussion during the 2012 Federal Partners Bullying Prevention summit at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on August 7, 2012 in Washington, DC. White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett participates in a panel discussion during the 2012 Federal Partners Bullying Prevention summit at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on August 7, 2012 in Washington, DC.Paul Morigi—WireImage/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 22, 2017 3:29 PM UTC _Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, gave the graduation address at Spelman College on Sunday. See her full remarks as prepared for delivery below._ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4788154/valerie-jarrett-president-barack-obama-spelman-college-graduation-commencement-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4788154/valerie-jarrett-president-barack-obama-spelman-college-graduation-commencement-2/"},"headline":"Former Obama Adviser Valerie Jarrett: 'Tell Your Story. It Is What Makes You Who You Are'","datePublished":"2017-05-22T15:29:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:02:57.222Z","description":"\"Challenge the status quo\"","url":"https://time.com/4788154/valerie-jarrett-president-barack-obama-spelman-college-graduation-commencement-2/","keywords":["Education","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte374b42b256a43f4/69889275196cf477ce03b877/valerie-jarrett-career-plan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte374b42b256a43f4/69889275196cf477ce03b877/valerie-jarrett-career-plan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2012 Federal Partners Bullying Prevention Summit - Day 2","caption":"White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett participates in a panel discussion during the 2012 Federal Partners Bullying Prevention summit at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on August 7, 2012 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Paul Morigi—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4788154/valerie-jarrett-president-barack-obama-spelman-college-graduation-commencement-2/","name":"Former Obama Adviser Valerie Jarrett: 'Tell Your Story. It Is What Makes You Who You Are'"}}]}] ```