It’s almost impossible to not be mesmerized by Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, when she’s at the podium. Fluent in English, French, and Haitian Creole, Jeane-Pierre is as swift with retorts as Rachel Maddow, but without the bracing sarcasm and obvious disdain often coming from commentators (unless you ask her about Ted Cruz).
She’s had a life of firsts under her belt (she’s the first Black, gay, Haitian American, and immigrant woman to ever serve as press secretary), but it certainly wasn’t a given. Born in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, Jean-Pierre, grew up in Queens, New York. Her mother, a devout Catholic, worked as a home health care aide. And though he was an engineer by training, Jean-Pierre’s father became a taxi driver after coming to the U.S. To support their family, they worked seven days a week, often leaving Jean-Pierre to care for her younger siblings.
Jean-Pierre can thank the late Black Congresswoman Barbara Jordan for her foray into politics. Though she was a (closeted) gay woman with a very long-time companion (she and Nancy Earl were together for two decades), Jordan never spoke publicly of her sexuality. But she was a firebrand in politics and her “substantive and authentic” keynote speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention caught Jean-Pierre’s attention.
Though her parents pushed her towards medicine, Jean-Pierre excelled once she chose a different path, earning a Master of Public Affairs degree from Columbia University. She served as the senior advisor and spokeswoman for , a lecturer at Columbia, a political analyst for NBC News, and then as Kamala Harris’s chief of staff, before being appointed Press Secretary
