Jill Biden Bio
Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden (born 3 June 1951) is an American educator and author who served as First Lady of the United States from 2021 to 2025. She is the wife of Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, and previously served as Second Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 while her husband was vice president. An English and writing professor for most of her adult life, she taught at Northern Virginia Community College for more than 15 years, becoming the first First Lady to hold a salaried job outside the White House for the majority of her husband’s presidency. Biden is also a long-time advocate for community colleges, military families, and women’s health, and the founder of the Biden Breast Health Initiative.
Early Life and Background
Jill Tracy Jacobs was born on 3 June 1951 in Hammonton, New Jersey. She is the oldest of five sisters. Her father, Donald Carl Jacobs, was a bank teller and a U.S. Navy signalman during World War II who used the G.I. Bill to build a career in banking, eventually serving as chief executive officer of the Mahwah Savings and Loan Association and later as president and chief executive officer of InterCounty Savings and Loan in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia for twenty years. Her mother, Bonny Jean Godfrey Jacobs, was a homemaker of English and Scottish descent, while her father’s family had emigrated from the Sicilian village of Gesso and anglicized their original surname to Jacobs after arriving in the United States.
Jacobs grew up moving frequently with her family, living in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, then Mahwah, New Jersey, and finally Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia, beginning in 1961. Her parents described themselves as agnostic realists, although she often attended Sunday services at a Presbyterian church with her grandmother and was confirmed at the Abington Presbyterian Church at age 16. She began working at age 15, including waitressing in Ocean City, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Moreland High School in 1969, later describing herself as somewhat rebellious there but always loving her English classes.
Path to Public Life
Jacobs always intended to have a career of her own and pursued higher education seriously, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Delaware. She went on to receive a Master of Education from West Chester University and a Master of Arts in English from Villanova University, and later returned to the University of Delaware to complete a Doctor of Education in educational leadership. Her academic training prepared her for a long teaching career that began in Delaware public high schools, where she taught English and reading for thirteen years and also instructed adolescents with emotional disabilities at a psychiatric hospital.
Her path to national public life began with her 1977 marriage to Joe Biden, then a United States senator from Delaware and a widower with two young sons, Beau and Hunter. The couple later had a daughter, Ashley Biden, born in 1981. After her marriage, she continued teaching and earned her doctoral degree, while gradually becoming involved in causes tied to community colleges, education access, and military families. Her husband’s election as vice president in 2008, followed by his election as president in 2020, drew her into more public roles, first as Second Lady of the United States and then as First Lady of the United States.
Jill Biden Career
Early Career in Education
After completing her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Delaware, Jill Biden began her teaching career in Delaware public high schools, where she taught English and reading for thirteen years. During this period she also earned a Master of Education from West Chester University and a Master of Arts in English from Villanova University, strengthening her credentials in the classroom. She later instructed adolescents with emotional disabilities at a psychiatric hospital before moving into higher education as an English and writing instructor at Delaware Technical and Community College, a position she held for fifteen years.
While teaching at Delaware Technical Community College, she returned to the University of Delaware and completed a Doctor of Education in educational leadership, earning the title Dr. Jill Biden. She balanced her academic career with raising her family, including her stepsons Beau and Hunter Biden and her daughter Ashley Biden. Her dedication to teaching and to community college students became the foundation of her later advocacy work, and she was known for engaging personally with her students and carrying their work with her wherever she went.
Second Lady Era (2009-2017)
When Joe Biden was elected vice president in 2008, Jill Biden became Second Lady of the United States in January 2009 and moved with her husband into Number One Observatory Circle, the official vice presidential residence in Washington. That same month, she began teaching two English courses as an adjunct professor at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College, the second largest community college in the nation, becoming the first Second Lady believed to hold a paying job while her husband served as vice president. In White House announcements and by her own preference, she was referred to as Dr. Jill Biden, a usage that drew public attention throughout her time in the role.
During her eight years as Second Lady, Biden championed community colleges, military families, and women’s health. In May 2009, President Barack Obama placed her in charge of an initiative to raise awareness about the value of community colleges. In April 2011, she and Michelle Obama co-founded Joining Forces, a national initiative showcasing the needs of U.S. military families. She taught continuously at Northern Virginia Community College, eventually receiving a permanent appointment as an associate professor, and was known on campus simply as Dr. B, sharing a cubicle with other teachers and holding regular office hours for students.
First Lady Era (2021-2025)
Jill Biden became First Lady of the United States on 20 January 2021, when her husband was inaugurated as the 46th president. At age 69, she was the oldest first lady to assume the role, and she was the first spouse since Barbara Bush to hold the positions of both Second Lady and First Lady, and the first since Pat Nixon to hold them non-consecutively. She is also the first Italian American first lady. She resumed teaching at Northern Virginia Community College, at first remotely over Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and returned to in-person classes in September 2021, making her the first wife of a sitting U.S. president to hold a paying job outside the White House.
As First Lady, Biden continued to focus on military families, education, and aspects of health care, while also leading a robust slate of foreign trips and ceremonial duties. In May 2022, she made an unannounced trip across the Slovakia-Ukraine border to Uzhhorod, Ukraine, meeting Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska and displaced schoolchildren, the first visit to a war zone by a U.S. first lady without her husband since Laura Bush went to Afghanistan in 2008. She also led the American delegation at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, attended the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in 2023, and conducted her final foreign trip as First Lady in December 2024, visiting Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and France. By May 2023, she had traveled more than her husband, the vice president, or the second gentleman combined.
Notable Events and Milestones
One of the defining moments of her tenure as First Lady came with her May 2022 solo trip to Eastern Europe during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, when she met Ukrainian refugees and First Lady Olena Zelenska. Other signature moments included co-founding Joining Forces with Michelle Obama in 2011, leading the American delegation at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games, and becoming the first First Lady to hold a paid teaching job throughout most of her husband’s presidency. Her memoir Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, published in 2019, was described by USA Today as an often-poignant memoir that charts her journey from a rebellious teen to young divorcee to the second lady of the United States.
Jill Biden Career Achievements
Jill Biden’s career is marked by a steady record of advocacy, authorship, and educational leadership, beginning with thirteen years of high school teaching and continuing through her long tenure as a community college professor. She founded the Biden Breast Health Initiative non-profit, co-founded the Book Buddies program, and co-founded the Biden Foundation, and has continued to champion military families, community colleges, and women’s health through the Joining Forces initiative. She is also a published author, having written the memoir Where the Light Enters and children’s books including Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops and Joey: The Story of Joe Biden.
Education and Teaching Achievements
Over the course of her career, Biden taught English and reading in high schools for thirteen years, instructed adolescents with emotional disabilities at a psychiatric hospital, and taught English and writing at Delaware Technical and Community College for fifteen years before joining Northern Virginia Community College. At Northern Virginia Community College she held a permanent position as an associate professor from 2011 onward, and she continued to teach there throughout her time as Second Lady and First Lady, finally leaving the classroom in 2024 after more than 15 years at the institution.
Other Achievements and Honors
Beyond the classroom, Biden served as board chair of Save the Children starting in 2017, and she has been honored for her work on military families and education, including delivering high-profile commencement addresses at the University of Delaware, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Bishop State Community College, and the Newport News Apprentice School. She was also the keynote speaker at the 2024 Doha Forum, and her children’s book Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops was published in June 2012, the same month her daughter Ashley Biden married Howard Krein.
Jill Biden Family
Family Background and Heritage
Jill Biden was born into a close-knit family of five sisters and raised by her father, Donald Carl Jacobs, a Navy veteran turned banker, and her mother, Bonny Jean Godfrey Jacobs, a homemaker. Her father’s family had emigrated from the Sicilian village of Gesso and anglicized their original surname to Jacobs shortly after arriving in the United States, making Jill Biden the first Italian American first lady. She has described her upbringing in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and her parents’ agnostic worldview as formative influences on her independent streak and her lifelong commitment to education.
Personal Life
Biden was first married to Bill Stevenson from 1970 until their divorce in 1975, after which she married Joe Biden in 1977 and became stepmother to his two sons, Beau Biden and Hunter Biden. The couple later had a daughter, Ashley Biden, born in 1981 and herself a social worker. The Bidens suffered the loss of Beau Biden to brain cancer in May 2015, an event Jill Biden has described as totally shattering. The couple have made their primary residence in Wilmington, Delaware, and also own a vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where they planned to host members of their extended family.