Someone new will be in your office on January 21. Having been a witness to history here for so many years, what’s your advice to the person who steps through this particular door?

"The interesting thing about this particular door is — unlike the West Wing, where there are issues of the day, where there’s news of the day and there’s a particular agenda the president has set that the West Wing needs to be responding to and follow — whoever is in the East Wing, there’s no mandate.

"There’s no salary [laughs] that goes with being the first spouse. There’s no mandate, so each person can really make of it what they want…It’s become a particularly unique platform for the first lady of the United States. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that not all first spouses of other countries have the same visibility that we in the United States have given to our first ladies. So, that’s a great opportunity to define it.

"One of the things that Mrs. Obama has been so successful at is taking what is otherwise a completely undefined role and platform and being very thoughtful about how to use that platform for things she genuinely cares about, things that are authentic to her own experience. Whether it’s education, or childhood obesity, or the work we have done with veterans and military families, it all comes from a personal commitment and belief borne out of her own experience, which makes it very genuine. I think that’s what people see when they communicate with her. I think that’s why there are partners who want to step up because they see that passion and personal commitment that she has to it.

"It also then means it’s something that you have fun doing, because that’s the other thing you have to do with this. As high-pressure as this is, you’ve got to enjoy it. You have to realize what a unique opportunity it is, what a unique place in history and time anybody in this building, at any point in time, has the great fortune to work in. Enjoy it — really, totally, have fun with it."