What Is Malia Obama's Job? Inside the Professional Life of Barack and Michelle Obama's Eldest Daughter

Malia Obama is carving out her own career path.

The eldest daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama, who graduated from Harvard University in 2021, currently works as a writer and director in Hollywood. She scored her first screenwriting credit on Donald Glover's 2023 series, Swarm.

"She has the potential to do anything she wants," Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, told TMZ after hiring Malia. "She can do anything."

He also told Vanity Fair Malia is "just like, an amazingly talented person."

"She's really focused, and she's working really hard," the actor continued. "I feel like she's just somebody who's gonna have really good things coming soon. Her writing style is great."

Meanwhile, a source exclusively told OK! Barack was stressing over Malia and Sasha's Hollywood career as "the last thing he wants is cameras following his girls around."

"The potential for embarrassment is huge!" the insider added.

Despite concerns, the former president confirmed he watched the Amazon Prime series.

"I watched it because, A) I was a big fan of Atlanta," he said. "And I watched it because my daughter worked on it. So, of course, I've got to watch it."

In addition to Swarm, Malia also worked as a writer and director for the 2023 short film The Heart, according to her IMDb page. She opened up about the film during her "Meet the Artist" introduction when it premiered at Sundance in 2024.

"The film is about lost objects and lonely people and forgiveness and regret, but I also think it works hard to uncover where tenderness and closeness can exist in those things," she shared. "We hope you enjoy the film and it makes you feel a bit less lonely, or at least reminds you not to forget about the people who are."

In her debut short film, Malia used "Malia Ann" instead of "Malia Obama," dropping her famous family name. The move, however, was still criticized by some who questioned her decision to establish an identity separate from her famous political family.

At the time, Whoopi Goldberg was quick to defend Malia's decision, asking the trolls why "do [they] care?"

"Why do you care what she calls herself? If she wanted to call herself Jeanette MacDonald, she has the right to! If I can be Whoopi Goldberg, she can be whoever the h--- she wants to be!" she exclaimed in a February 2024 episode of The View. "I mean, why are people triggered by this kind of stuff? Why are people wasting their time?"

Both Barack and Michelle respected their eldest daughter's efforts to forge her own identity.

"I was all like, 'You do know they'll know who you are,'" the former POTUS said on "The Pivot Podcast." "And she's all like, 'You know what? I want them to watch [my film] that first time and not in any way have that association.'"

Meanwhile, the mom-of-two shared on the "Sibling Revelry" podcast in June 2025, "It is very important for my kids to feel like they've earned what they are getting in the world, and they don't want people to assume that they don't work hard, that they're just handed things. They're very sensitive to that — they want to be their own people."