Jill Biden coming to Kenya: Things you need to know about her

Jill Biden the first lady of the United States of America is coming to Kenya.

Between February 22 and February 26, First Lady Jill Biden of the United States will go to Kenya and Namibia.

The White House says that Dr Biden's visit to the two nations intends to strengthen US alliances with African nations and advance its shared priorities in the region.

The visit comes after the U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit in late 2022 where she hosted a two-day spousal program.

This trip will be her first to Africa since she became first lady. Overall it will be her sixth visit to Africa, the first visit to Namibia and the third visit to Kenya.

Dr Biden's visit makes her the first top official of the Biden administration to visit sub-Saharan Africa since he was sworn in.

Her engagements will focus on the empowerment of women and youth, efforts to address food insecurity, and promoting our shared democratic values.

So, what do we know about Jill Biden?

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Born Jill Tracy Jacobs, FLOTUS is from Hammonton, New Jersey, however, she grew up in Willow Grove, Philadelphia.

The eldest of five sisters, she was raised by her father Donald Carl Jacobs, who worked as a banker, and her mother Bonny Jean Jacobs, a homemaker of English and Scottish descent.

Prior to marrying Joe, Jill was married to former football player Bill Stevenson. She knew Joe three years after his first wife died in a car accident in 1972. He was a senator and she was still in college.

Speaking to Vogue about their first date Jill said:

"I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door and he had a sport coat and loafers, and I thought: 'God, this is never going to work, not in a million years.'

"He was nine years older than I am! But we went out to see A Man and a Woman at the movie theatre in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off."

Jill and Joe got married in New York City on June 17, 1977, at the United Nations chapel, after Joe proposed to Jill five times before she finally said yes.

"By that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work," Jill says of Joe's five proposals adding that: "because they had lost their mom, and I couldn't have them lose another mother. So I had to be 100 per cent sure."

They later had their daughter, Ashley, in 1981.

Mrs Biden, a teacher, has a bachelor's degree, two master's degrees and a doctorate of education from the University of Delaware.

While her husband served as the vice president, Mrs Biden was a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College. She served as the second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

During her time as Second Lady she launched the Joining Forces initiative, alongside then First Lady Michelle Obama, which helped military veterans and their families' access education programs and employment resources.