Melissa Winter, also a deputy chief of staff, spent 18 years on Capitol Hill and was the first lady's traveling campaign chief of staff.

Deputy policy director Trooper Sanders worked for former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, and the Bill Clinton Foundation. Communications director Camille Johnston, who oversaw communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers, had been Tipper Gore's communications director.

"It's a very political staff, with a lot of political experience, and that's a good thing," said Kim Gandy, the president of the National Organization for Women. "It says to me she (Michelle Obama) intends to be involved and intends to have a hand in promoting some issues that are important to her."

Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary, and her team also are housed under the first lady's staff. Rogers is a friend of the Obamas from Chicago, and also a prominent corporate executive with insurance, energy and state lottery experience.

Norris, the chief of staff, is an Iowa campaign veteran who also once worked for Gore. She and Michelle Obama bonded while riding around the state in a minivan together in the months before the January Democratic caucuses.

Norris has three young children. "I knew going into this that the first lady has the ultimate respect for boundaries for working professionals, and that I would work my heart out during the day and work my heart out as a mother at night.

"One thing we've been stressing with the staff is we want people to work effectively and efficiently, but we also want people to enjoy their family and their friendships. There's a time and a place for work. But there's a recognition we all have family, and we want to keep our whole selves complete."

Women's workplace advocates have a wish list of issues they'd like to see the first lady engage:

• Equal pay for women and minorities who do the same work as white men.
• Paid sick days for workers.
• Expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act, including paid leave and protection for workers at smaller companies.
• Expanded affordable child care.
• Unemployment insurance extensions, including benefits for part-time workers and for civilian spouses who lose work when a military spouse is transferred.
• Pay parity and partial benefits for part-time workers and incentives for employers to allow flex-time and flex-commuting.
• Legal protection for employees who request schedule changes.

Marie Wilson, the president of the women's leadership group The White House Project, said that workplace advocacy "won't be seen as the tough hard issue that it is; it's not the economy or national security."

As a society, Wilson said, "We don't get that the soft things now are the hard things. The issue that keeps women out of leadership really is, 'How do I manage my family?'"

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