Who Is Karine Jean-Pierre, Incoming White House Press Secretary

• Karine Jean-Pierre will take over as White House press secretary, Biden announced Thursday. 
• Jean-Pierre will be the first Black and openly gay White House press secretary in US history.
• The Haitian-American immigrant has worked for the Obama and Harris presidential campaigns.

Karine Jean-Pierre will make history in coming weeks as the first-ever Black and first openly gay person to serve as White House press secretary, but she’s been making her mark in Washington, DC, for years.

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that Jean-Pierre, the current deputy White House press secretary, will take over the role after Jen Psaki steps down on May 13 to reportedly take on a job at MSNBC. 

Jean-Pierre worked for former President Barack Obama and the Biden-Harris presidential campaign, and taught at Columbia University as a lecturer. Jean-Pierre was also a “top candidate” being considered for the press secretary role last year, but the job ultimately went to Psaki.

A West Indian immigrant with Haitian roots 

Jean-Pierre was born in 1977 on the island of Martinique to Haitian parents. She later grew up in the borough of Queens in New York City after moving there at 5 years old.

Jean-Pierre has spoken about how her parents — her father a cab driver and mother a home health aide — and her immigrant background have inspired her politics.

“Growing up in an immigrant household really defined me. It taught me to work hard,” she said of her family during an interview for MoveOn.

Jean-Pierre also said when she told her parents she was going to work for then-President Obama her parents said she was “changing the world.”

She earned her bachelor’s degree from the New York Institute for Technology in 1997 and went on to graduate from Columbia University in 2003 with a Master’s of Public Affairs.

She’s worked in politics out and proud

The 44-year-old came out as a lesbian at the age of 16 and has written about the experience on Twitter.

“I came out to my Mom when I was 16 years old,” Jean-Pierre wrote. “The revolted look on her face sent me running back into the proverbial closet and slamming the door shut. After that, my sexuality became a family secret and it would stay that way for years.”

Jean-Pierre said her mom eventually came around and is “proud” of her.

She is raising a daughter, Soleil, with her partner, Suzanne Malveaux, a CNN correspondent.

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