North Hollywood Attorney Is Invited Guest of First Lady For State of the Union Speech

A U.S. Army sergeant from Malibu and a Mexican-born attorney from North Hollywood will be among the guests in the first lady's box at tonight's "State of the Union" address by President Barack Obama.

Sgt. Ashleigh Berg, who joined the Army in 2004, has served two tours of duty in Iraq and has been stationed in South Korea and Germany. She is assigned to the 94th Army Missile Defense Command in Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Her husband is also an Army sergeant, and is serving his third tour in Afghanistan.

The other local guest of the first lady -- attorney Juan Jose Redin -- was born in Ixtapa, Mexico, before coming to the United States at the age of 10 with his mother and younger sister. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA and is now a U.S. citizen.

Dating back to the Reagan administration, invitations to sit in the first lady's box have gone to everyday individuals who illustrate points in the speech.

"The guests of the first lady each have uniquely American stories to tell and in many cases their stories highlight not only the challenges we've overcome, but some of the ways in which we can move forward together as a nation and create an America built to last," White House spokesman Adam Abrams told City News Service.

Other guests include Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who is the founder and chair of Emerson Collective, which according to her official biography is "an organization that works with a range of entrepreneurs to advance domestic and international social reform efforts"; and Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D- Ariz., who announced on Sunday she would resign to concentrate on her recovery from wounds suffered in a shooting in Tucson, Ariz., last year that left six people dead.