Jill Biden

Jill Biden is an American educator who served as First Lady of the United States from 2021 to 2025 as the wife of President Joe Biden. She is notable for continuing to work as a community college teacher while in the role, an unusual choice for a sitting First Lady, and for her advocacy on education, military families, women's health, and cancer-related initiatives. Her dual identity as both an educator and a political spouse became a defining feature of her public profile.

Early life

Born Jill Jacobs in Hammonton, New Jersey, and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, she pursued higher education with a focus on teaching and English. She earned an undergraduate degree and went on to complete multiple graduate degrees over the course of her life, including master's degrees and, later, a doctorate in education, after which she has been widely referred to as Dr. Biden. She married Joe Biden in 1977, becoming stepmother to his two sons, Beau and Hunter, from his first marriage, and later mother to their daughter, Ashley.

Career

Biden spent decades teaching, working in public high schools and adolescent programs and, for many years, as a professor of English and writing at community colleges in the Washington, D.C., area. She continued teaching during the period her husband served as Vice President from 2009 to 2017, when she was known as the Second Lady of the United States, balancing classroom work with official duties. During those years she co-founded and championed Joining Forces, an initiative supporting military service members, veterans, and their families, working alongside then-First Lady Michelle Obama, and she remained active in education and cancer-awareness causes throughout the period.

Recent work

As First Lady from 2021 to 2025, Biden became the first person in the role to maintain outside paid employment, continuing to teach at a community college in Northern Virginia. She used the platform to promote education, support for military families through a relaunched Joining Forces, women's health research, and cancer initiatives connected to the administration's broader efforts. She traveled domestically and internationally on behalf of the United States, represented the country at official ceremonies and delegations, and remained a public advocate for community colleges and educators throughout her tenure. Her decision to keep teaching while serving as First Lady was widely noted as a departure from precedent and became central to how she defined the role. After leaving the White House in 2025, she continued her involvement in education, military-family support, and other public causes, and she has remained a recognizable figure in American civic and educational life.