During her eight years at the White House, Michelle Obama became known for her frank, personal speeches that often drew upon her childhood growing up on the South Side of Chicago. For most of those eight years, the First Lady shared what was on her mind with the help of speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, who joined the Obama campaign after working as chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton during her 2008 run for the presidency. While on campus for a recent lecture as part of the Authors@Wharton speakers series, Hurwitz sat down with Knowledge at Wharton to talk about the elements of successful speechwriting.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Knowledge at Wharton: In addition to working for Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, you have also done speechwriting for former Vice President Al Gore and others.…