2020
Caribbean L 6 ife, August 21-27, 2020
Karine Jean-Pierre.
Caribbean national selected
as Harris chief-of-staff
By Nelson A. King
Just before United States Sen. Kamala
Harris made history by becoming the first
Caribbean American and Asian American
woman to be nominated as a US vice
presidential candidate, a Caribbean-born
woman also created history.
Karine Jean-Pierre, 43, who was born
in Martinique to Haitian nationals, 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 former US
Vice President Joe Biden selected Harris,
the daughter of a Jamaican father
and Indian mother, as his running mate.
“Let’s go!!”
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.”
Before joining the re-election campaign,
Jean-Pierre served as the Regional Political
Director for the White House Office of
Political Affairs.
Prior to joining the Obama administration,
she said she worked on the Obama for
America campaign in 2008 as the Southeast
Regional Political Director, and served
the John Edwards for President Campaign
in the same capacity.
Jean-Pierre said her interests demonstrate
her “concern for integrity and the
human condition.”
In graduate school, she said she explored
her Haitian roots through documentary
film.
Later, she worked at the Center for
Community and Corporate Ethics and
pushed major companies like Wal-Mart to
change their business practices.
While working in New York, Jean-Pierre
said she served as press secretary for
former US Congressmen Anthony Weiner,
and as Deputy Chief of Staff and Director
of Legislative and Budget Affairs for two
City Council Members, respectively, in the
New York City Council.
Jean-Pierre said she joined the Columbia
University faculty in 2014, where she
teaches a course at the School of International
and Public Affairs (SIPA). She
received her Master in Public Administration
(MPA) from Columbia University’s
SIPA in 2003.
“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.
/MoveOn.org