Jill Biden through the years

In January 2021, Jill Biden will become the next first lady of the United States. But who is she? 

Here's everything you need to know about the life and career of the educator, mother and advocate.

In the beginning

Jill Jacobs Biden grew up near Philadelphia, the oldest of 5 girls. Briefly married and divorced after high school, she was a University of Delaware senior in 1975 when she went on a blind date with a young senator and widower named Joe Biden.

Beau, Hunter and five questions

Joe Biden, whose first wife and infant daughter had been killed in a 1972 car crash, said his two young sons, Beau and Hunter, told him, "We should marry Jill." 

The first four times he asked her, she deferred. The fifth time, she said yes.

Family portrait

The couple married in 1977. While Joe commuted to Washington, Jill stayed in Delaware raising the boys and Ashley, the daughter they had together. She also taught full time.

Early change in plans

During junior college, a young Jill Biden started out studying for a career in fashion merchandising. She later transferred to the University of Delaware and became an English teacher.

Here, Dr. Jill Biden speaks at the 6th Annual GLSEN Respect Awards in New York City on June 1, 2009.

Different faiths

Unlike her husband, who was raised Catholic, Jill Biden was confirmed in a Presbyterian church at age 16. 

She attends Catholic Mass with her husband at St. Joseph's on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware.

Full-time teacher

She has an undergraduate and doctoral degree from the University of Delaware, as well as master's degrees from two other universities. She's taught adolescents and high-schoolers as well as college students. At the college level, she's taught English and writing.

Here, Dr. Jill Biden listens in at a rally in support of 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

On the trail

Jill Biden has not been considered a traditional political wife, but she has campaigned for her husband in his Senate races and through two unsuccessful runs for president. The third time was the charm when he won in 2020.

Grown daughter

Here, Dr. Jill Biden and daughter Ashley Biden attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards in 2016.

On the ticket

One day in the summer of 2008, Joe Biden took Jill to get a root canal. When they got back to their car, he told her, "Barack called, and asked me to be the vice president." 

Here, the Bidens, with presidential nominee Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, wave to the crowd on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Aug. 28, 2008.

At the table

The Obama and Bidens grew closer on the campaign trail. Here, they have breakfast at Yankee Kitchen Family Restaurant in Boardman, Ohio, on Aug. 30, 2008.

Double shifts

As her husband ran for vice president in 2008, Jill Biden did double duty — making campaign appearances, and also teaching four days a week at Delaware Technical & Community College. She would grade class papers on the campaign bus.

Here, the couple sits together at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. 

Oath of office

Vice President-elect Joe Biden, with his wife Jill at his side, takes the oath of office from Justice John Paul Stevens on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. Jill held the Biden family bible during the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C>

In the spotlight

Here, Jill Biden speaks at the opening of the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Washington, on May 28, 2009. A longtime college professor, she holds a doctorate in education.

Into history

Jill Biden and Vice President Joe Biden wave to the crowd while walking part of the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington, D.C.

Stepping out in red

Jill Biden dances with Vice President Joe Biden at the Commander in Chief Ball in Washington on the day of his 2009 inauguration.

"Surreal quality"

During her period of adjustment to life in the national spotlight, Jill Biden opened up to CBS News.

She told correspondent Rita Braver, "It goes through my mind every day, every day. It still has a surreal quality to it. It still does."

The educator

While continuing to teach, Jill took on more public duties after Joe became vice president. In 2009, she visited the Ciudadela de Pavas Elementary School in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Supporting fellow educators

Here, Jill Biden addresses the 2009 National Teachers of the Year reception at the vice president's residence in Washington, D.C. That same year, President Obama announced that Jill Biden would spearhead an initiative to raise awareness about the benefits of America's community colleges.

Race for the cure

Jill Biden has long been an advocate for breast cancer patients. 

In the early 1990s, she formed the Biden Breast Health Initiative. The organization shuttered in 2019 after Joe Biden began a fresh presidential campaign in earnest.

In the White House

As second lady, Jill Biden still held down a teaching job as adjunct professor at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

Here, Jill Biden and the vice president arrive for a Stevie Wonder concert at the White House, on Feb. 25, 2009.

Juggling priorities

An examination of her emails as second lady led to this revelation from the New York Times: "When she needed to take time off work — to attend an event with the Obamas or go on an overseas trip with her husband — she requested permission from the college."

Blue Star mom

Left: Jill Biden hugs Beau Biden, a member of the Delaware Army National Guard, whose unit deployed to Iraq in October 2008 for a year-long tour. 

Right: Jill Biden meets with U.S. military service members and their families at a base in Schweinfurt, Germany. In June 2012, she published a children's book, "Don't Forget, God Bless Our Troops."

Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.

A family united

Jill Biden, right, Vice President Joe Biden, son Hunter and daughter-in-law Kathleen arrive at the burial services for Senator Edward Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 29, 2009.

Volunteering

During her stint as second lady, Jill Biden occasionally joined first lady Michelle Obama for public appearances. 

In this photo, Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America; Dr. Jill Biden; Michelle Obama; and Lynn Brantley, Capital Area Food Bank president and CEO, join congressional spouses and volunteers at the Capitol Area Food Bank for Feeding America on April 29, 2009 in Washington , D.C.

Losing faith, finding faith

After the death of Beau Biden in 2015, Jill Biden has said, she felt like she was losing her faith and stopped attending church for four years.

Renewed hope

But then, Jill Biden told People magazine, something amazing happened.

"We were visiting a church, the Sunday service, and during the service a woman came up to me, and we were in the front pew, and she put her hand on me. And she said: 'Dr. Biden, I want to be your prayer partner' And I thought: prayer partner? I had never heard of prayer partner."

Since then, she says, she's found new faith in God.

Here, Dr. Jill Biden visits Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, on March 9, 2010.

"Dr. B"

In May 2019, Jill Biden published a memoir, "Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself." She didn't say much about politics, but instead focused on her job and family. 

"The role I have always felt most at home in is being 'Dr. B.'"

New commitment

To help her husband with his 2020 presidential campaign, Jill Biden took a leave of absence from teaching. Nonetheless, when she spoke at the 2020 virtual Democratic convention, with chose a classroom as her backdrop.

She says she intends to keep her job after her husband takes office — which would be a first for a first lady.