 Photographed by Johnny Rodriguez
Creative/Makeup Lanier Long
Written by Keira Wesley Busher
Like a great many political wives, Mrs. Paige-Paterson is grappling to recover her equilibrium between parenting, her professional identity, her new role and the man she married who is continually under public scrutiny. Her ascendancy has occurred at a time when the benchmark of our political landscape is being redefined and she is one in several that is re-telling our story with images of accomplished, elegant black women and their functional families. Perhaps not as the fairytales read, but functional families that demonstrate commitment and stability that overcome human frailties. From our nation’s Michelle to our state’s Michelle, first ladies across the country are lighting several paths. .
If you believe in divine destiny, the kind of destiny that our country’s founding fathers believed in, then you might see Michelle’s path as providential. It’s as if life’s little GPS recalculated each turn until it led her right back to her destiny with the governor. A romantic may see them as soul-mates. Michelle calls her relationship with David Paterson the typical “When Harry Met Sally.” They met during the summer of Michelle’s junior year in college. She was home in the city from Syracuse University interning at radio station WBLS. The radio station had given her four tickets to a Temptations concert. She invited a friend and the friend invited David Paterson who was then studying for the bar, and David’s date. They all met at her mother’s home on New York’s Upper East Side. That was in 1982. During the concert Michelle encountered an uncomfortable situation and immediately David picked up on it. Her unpretentious reaction appealed to the governor. They married ten years later and he proposed to her on that very same radio station where she won those Temptation tickets.
Within the ten year span between the time they met and married they dated for a while after Michelle finished college, on again, off again, and dated other people. Michelle even married for a brief spell, a marriage that produced her daughter Ashley. Marrying the Governor moved her to Harlem where she said for the first time she felt part of a community. “I had lived in a building with my mother on the upper east side for fifteen years,” Michelle explained, “and the people on the same floor barely spoke to one another. You didn’t know your neighbors – you’re kind of in and out. Well in Harlem people always speak, they ask about your children. It’s like they say, it takes a village to raise a family.” 
She married into a family with long stemming political roots. Her father-in-law, Basil Paterson, has spent the majority of his life in New York politics alongside former New York Mayor David Dinkins, Percy Sutton and Congressman Charles Rangel. Together they have been branded the “Harlem Clubhouse,” the powerbrokers of Harlem. Michelle, who had not been a part of that social or political scene blended well with her intrinsic graceful demeanor, which she attributes to the southern style refinement of her mother, Kaye Johnson. She also has a natural political savvy with a broad understanding of social conditions that affect everyday people. Her career choice in health management is a clear indication that she had a bent toward public service early on.
Although the role of Governor and First Lady of New York was not one either Paterson actively pursued Michelle does believe that it happened for a reason. “I don’t know what that reason is just yet,” she chuckles. But whatever the obstacles, her sense of self makes the task less challenging. “I think you have to be a somewhat grounded person in who you are,” Michelle Paterson shares, “you have to stand for something, believe, and believe in yourself.” It helps to have a belief system when suddenly it feels like a loved one is under continuous attack, especially of such sacrificial nature. Michelle’s outlook is one of faith in God and she rests in the idea that life is a journey of experiences in which to always learn.
The media has not only been tough on the governor but has criticized the first lady for defending her husband while on the job. Aside from the triviality of those far-reaching news reports, her genuineness, her sincerity of purpose and her graciousness precedes her. Coworkers and friends, especially members of the Harlem community know Michelle for her benevolence. Barbara Strayhorn remembers regularly cutting their son’s, Alex, hair at their barbershop on Lenox Avenue. “Mrs. Paterson was a genuinely good person, always kind,” Barbara Strayhorn recalls, “and the boy was a really nice young man.” Many took Mrs. Paterson’s efforts to protect her husband to be admirable. She asked friends to join in a letter writing campaign to help lessen the negative media pressure against the governor. She even gained more respect with supporters as she stood composed while their private lives went public. “It was helpful for us as women to witness Michelle Paterson during the Governor’s inauguration as she faced the public with such poise and dignity at what had to be a really hard time. That lets us know that we can make it through tough times,” one Harlem resident commented as several shared their opinions.
“Being in this spot you really get to see firsthand how the press shapes perception – the perception that they want people to see,” Michelle says, “it is so unfair. But I think it makes you stronger. So I just learn to focus on the good things and continue pushing toward what we are trying to accomplish.” She continues, “I try not to read the papers. I tell my friends, if it’s not positive don’t tell me about it. The State has a $15 billion dollar deficit, thousands of people are being laid off and we are nearing depression levels and people are worried about gossip and hearsay.”
Michelle Paterson became the first lady of the first Black family of New York just months before Michelle Obama became the first lady of the first black family of these United States. Outside the obvious similarities each Michelle is transforming their role distinctively. The brilliance of such a milestone is the evidence that they are both free to choose and through their examples more women are liberated in their options. First Lady Obama chose to set aside her career for her family and First Lady Paterson has been emphatically clear about maintaining her career while her husband governs the state, and they are both justified.
When Michelle married David Paterson sixteen years ago, he was already a State senator and she was settling into her career. First Lady Paterson has a M.S. in Health Services Management from the Milano Graduate School in New York and a B.A. from Syracuse University. Even before her husband became head of the State, she began integrating her health management expertise with political affairs. Her position as the Director of Community and Government Affairs at North General Hospital in Harlem made a significant impact. And now that First Lady Paterson has greater visibility that passion for healthy living draws more attention.
The sense of responsibility for Governor and First Lady Paterson is evident as their lives forge ahead as role models. While their lives play out on the public stage
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