Barack Obama’s firstborn daughter Malia Obama is dating Dawit Eklund who is an American of Ethiopian descent.
Eklund is the son of retired State Department officer Jon Eklund who worked at several US embassies in Africa and his Ethiopian wife Yeshi.
Malia’s boyfriend is a co-founder of Washington, D.C.-based record label 1432 R, which specializes in Ethiopian music.
And besides resembling a younger Barack Obama, Eklund has the same smoking habit as the 44th president, a vice that Obama has often admitted he found hard to kick.
Eklund, 33, is nine years older than Malia who is just 24 years old.
Malia’s boyfriend was born in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. He studied at the International Community School of Addis Ababa, under the Ethiopian institute.
During his teenage years, Eklund reportedly visited many countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Sudan, and Kenya, due to the nature of his father’s job.
After his primary studies, Eklund moved to the States and in 2012 he graduated with a degree in International Development Studies from George Washington University.
After leaving college, Eklund started his music career by uploading his first piece, titled “Psycho Animus”, on his SoundCloud account.
He can play many musical instruments such as guitar, ukulele, and drums, and has released many tracks on his SoundCloud profile, including “Litchi Juice”, “Mint”, “Lies Are Chic”, and others.
Eklund also started a record label by partnering with two of his friends, Joyce Lim and Sami Yenigun.
The company, 1432 R, is based in Washington and primarily sells music via distributors in the industry. It has launched quite a few artists in the market and usually focuses on the Ethiopian genre of music.
