Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — One of the longest-serving members of the Trump administration is a 28-year-old who had no political experience before the 2016 presidential campaign.
Starting with the administration as director of strategic communications, Hope Hicks has been a regular presence in the White House and is seen as one of the members of the inner circle of Trump’s top advisers.
She began her career in public relations, entering the larger Trump orbit when she worked with the Trump Organization and specifically Ivanka Trump’s fashion line.
In April 2015, two months before Donald Trump announced his presidential bid, Hicks was featured on the style blog of Ivanka Trump’s fashion line. The post featured Hicks, who was then working as the Trump Organization’s director of communications, in a light teal shift dress from the line and described how her “typical workday could include a major meeting, an all-day event or even an out-of-state trip.”
Hicks and Trump’s eldest daughter appear to have maintained a good relationship, as Ivanka Trump tweeted a congratulatory message to Hicks when she was included on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list in January.
“Congrats to my brilliant, kind & wickedly funny friend Hope Hicks on being named to the @Forbes #30Under30 list!” she tweeted.
Congrats to my brilliant, kind & wickedly funny friend Hope Hicks on being named to the @Forbes #30Under30 list! https://t.co/s3YO9Eq83Z
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 4, 2017
Hicks has previously worked as a model and she was featured on the cover of one of the novels in the “Gossip Girl” book series.
The Greenwich, Connecticut, native earned an English degree from Southern Methodist University.
Now, she is the youngest person to ever lead the White House communications team.
That marks the latest promotion during her time as part of the Trump political team. She served as a spokesperson for the campaign after Trump announced that he was running for president, and when he won, she was named director of strategic communications.
She was named interim White House communications director on Aug. 16.
The official White House statement announcing her role said that she would be working with press secretary Sarah Sanders and the communications team, and that the announcement of a permanent communications director will be made “at the appropriate time.”
In spite of dealing directly with national media for about two years, she rarely speaks out publicly herself.
One example of such reluctance came in June 2016. She was contacted by a reporter for GQ magazine who wanted to do a profile article on her, and while Hicks would not be interviewed for the piece, she allowed then-candidate Trump to speak to the reporter about her.
“Hope’s been involved from the beginning, and she has been absolutely terrific,” Trump said in the GQ interview.
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