Michelle Obama in Lenny Letter: 'I see myself in these girls'

First Lady Michelle Obama is having a big day. Dress-for-success, media-blitz big. And she kicked it off with a move that will likely be overshadowed, but may have been the most endearing.

She took a page out of her husband’s playbook this morning, speaking directly to her audience on their level and preferred medium. In an essay for Lenny Letter — an email newsletter by Girls Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner — she talked up her Let Girls Learn initiative in a way that felt like she wasn’t actually pushing a political agenda. Though, she clearly is, and will follow this warm-up with a keynote at SXSW and partnership with Zendaya, Missy Elliott, Kelly Clarkson, and Janelle Monae who recorded a song written by Diane Warren called “This Is for My Girls.”

“I see myself in these girls — in their ambition and their determination to rise above their circumstances. And I believe that because you’re Lenny Letter readers — women who are talented, passionate, and ambitious — you’d see yourselves in these girls too,” she wrote.

It was a bit of flattery but it works. Dunham had a hunch that there is a large swath of educated and engaged young women that yearns for more thoughtful coverage of topics that pertain to their everyday lives, and she was right. Lenny has grown to 400,000 subscribers and has a 65% open rate (just trust us, it’s huge). And it seems she’s attracted exactly the audience she set out to — one that is would be happy to have a personalized letter from Michelle Obama in their inboxes.

But MObama didn’t just hit the young, passionate audience she knew would be interested in girls’ educations. She revealed a bit about herself. More importantly, she made the point that she is us. She thinks we will see ourselves in these girls because she sees herself in these girls. And despite a 20-30 year age difference and that whole first-lady status-thing, she can relate to our struggles and personal beliefs because they are hers as well.

We could actually envision her, before the White House, before the Senate run, before her marriage to Barack, sitting in a city government building in Chicago, starting her work day, checking her email and reading Lenny Letter.

She’s not the only one to make this important connection —  one that doesn’t feel like just a desperate attempt to reach a target demographic. Hillary Clinton is finally hitting that sweet spot. It’s obvious in her teased cameo for an episode of Broad City airing Wednesday night. In the show, Ilana Glazer works for the Hillary campaign and is showing bestie Abbi Jacobson around when Hillz walks in.

"Lucky enough, the scene was about us reacting to meeting her, so we didn't have to act at all and could just fully freak out," Glazer told USA TODAY.

And the headlines followed: Abbi and Ilana are all of us meeting Hillary Clinton. The presidential candidate didn’t have to try, she could be the #boss we respect. And in return, it made us like her more.

We suspect there’s more of this work to come from both Hillary and Michelle, as they see that being who they are is the most effective way to reach young women. Because, at the end of the day, we are them.