By: Staff Writer
May 13, 2022
The new US White House press secretary is the first black female and LGBTQ individual and she also has Caribbean roots.
Karine Jean-Pierre was born in was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique to Haitian parents. She also has academic pedigree having studied at Columbia University, receiving her Master of Public Affairs.
Ms Jean-Pierre has served as the administration’s principal deputy press secretary since US President Biden was elected and she replaces outgoing press secretary Jen Psaki.
She joins Vice-President Kamala Harris who has Jamaican heritage through her father along with incoming Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Domestic Policy Council chair Susan Rice, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and a handful of other black women as officials and judges in prominent roles in the Biden administration.
In a statement, Mr Biden said Ms. Jean-Pierre “not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris administration on behalf of the American people.”
He predicted that she would be “a strong voice speaking for me and this administration.”
Ms Jean-Pierre came to the Biden team from the progressive organization MoveOn.org, where she was a top communications staffer. She was also a regular on MSNBC. Jean-Pierre has already led several White House press briefings, including when Psaki was out with COVID.
“It’s a real honor just to be standing here today,” Ms Jean-Pierre said in May 2021 during her first turn behind the famous lectern. “I appreciate the historic nature, I really do. But I believe being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building, is not about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people.”
As of 2020, Jean-Pierre lives in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with her partner, CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, and their daughter. She is fluent in English, French, and Haitian Creole.
Caribbean Magazine Plus congratulates Ms Jean-Pierre on her new role and wish her all the best in the WH press briefing room.