Washington Post 6/13/16: What’s on Michelle Obama’s mind? Meet the speechwriter who puts it into words. When Sarah Hurwitz (WHS ’95) sits down at her laptop, she puts on her noise-blocking headphones and imagines Michelle Obama’s exacting voice in her head. The voice might say: No, that transition is clumsy. Or: Are we really telling this story in a way that honors these people? Hurwitz, the first lady’s head speechwriter, has written for the Obamas for eight years and for Michelle Obama exclusively for nearly seven. The two have worked so closely together that nearly every word the first lady has spoken in public has been written or edited by Hurwitz.