WASHINGTON – Karine Jean-Pierre, a Caribbean national, has been selected to be the chief of staff to Senator Kamala Harris, who recently made history by becoming the first Caribbean-American and Asian-American woman to be nominated as a vice-presidential candidate.
Jean-Pierre, 43, who was born in Martinique to Haitian parents, was selected as Harris’ chief-of-staff, becoming the first Black person to serve in that role for a US vice presidential candidate.
“Karine ‘ambitious’ Jean-Pierre is incredibly proud to be working to elect the Biden/Harris ticket,” tweeted Jean-Pierre Tuesday shortly after Presidential hopeful. Joe Biden selected Harris, as his running mate.
Jean-Pierre, who was raised in Queens, New York, serves as a senior advisor to the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign.
Jean-Pierre’s professional experience has ranged broadly from presidential campaigns to grassroots activism, to local politics, to working in the White House.
Jean-Pierre, who is the Chief Public Affairs Officer for MoveOn.org and an NBC and MSNBC political analyst, previously served as the deputy campaign manager for Martin O’Malley for President.
Prior to joining the O’Malley Campaign, Jean-Pierre said on her website that, in 2014, she was the campaign manager for American Civil Liberty Union’s (ACLU) Reproductive Freedom Initiate (RFI).
Previously, she managed New York Attorney General Letitia James’s successful campaign for New York City Public Advocate.
In 2011, Jean-Pierre said she served as Deputy Battleground States Director for former US President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, “managing the president’s political engagement in key states while leading the delegate selection and ballot access process.”
In graduate school, she said she explored her Haitian roots through documentary film.
“My parents, Haitian immigrants, it’s like the immigrant experience,” Jean-Pierre told the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 2019. “They came here for the American dream that, in many ways, eluded them.
“They still live check-to-check,” she added. “But, in their eyes, because I made it to the White House, because their daughter went to Columbia, they have received it.”
While congratulating Harris as the first Caribbean American to be selected as a US Vice Presidential nominee, New York City Democratic Council Member Farah N. Louis, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, also recognized Jean-Pierre.
“Women have been at the forefront of every civil and human rights movement; and now, we stand ready to take our seat at the table in the White House,” Louis, who represents the predominantly Caribbean 45th Council District in Brooklyn, New York, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
CMC
