Friday, January 17, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently returned to the Village of Hempstead, where she spent part of her childhood and began her journey to the pinnacle of American politics.
“Hempstead village is always going to be incredibly important to me,” said Jean-Pierre, 50, who was appointed press secretary by President Joe Biden in May 2022. “Hempstead village is really part of the reason I am who I am today.”
In a Dec. 18 homecoming ceremony, Jean-Pierre, who moved to Hempstead from Queens at age 10, received the key to the village from Mayor Waylyn Hobbs Jr. and was honored by the community she once called home.
During the ceremony, held at Kennedy Memorial Park, Hobbs praised Jean-Pierre for embodying “the resilience about the community, a community that is built on generations of greatness.”
Yolanda Hutcherson, Hempstead’s superintendent of parks and recreation and Jean-Pierre’s longtime friend, gave her a heartfelt introduction during the homecoming. Hutcherson reflected on Jean-Pierre’s roots in the community and the path that led her to the national stage.
“Karine has not only worked with the national presence that you’ve seen on many campaigns and elections,” Hutcherson told the crowd, “she really is grassroots here in New York, and she started here and started working on other campaigns and other elected officials that you know of.”
Jean-Pierre started her political career as the director of legislative and budget affairs for New York City Councilman James F. Gennaro in 2003 before moving on to the campaign front as the southeast regional political director for John Edwards’s 2008 presidential campaign.
While working in New York, she also served as press secretary to former Congressman Anthony Weiner, as well as deputy chief of staff and director of legislative and budget affairs for two New York City Council members, according to her website.
Hutcherson expressed her pride in Jean-Pierre’s accomplishments, acknowledging the strong connection the press secretary continues to maintain with Hempstead and what her success symbolizes for the community.
“It really is about community here, and that’s one thing that I’m proud (of),” Hutcherson said, “to work here in the village where I grew up at and to be here every single day, to see these things, to work with the mayor, to work with all of you, and to see her come back, it truly is amazing.”
Jean-Pierre’s Hempstead visit was not only about reflection, but also about giving back to the next generation. She stopped by Joseph A. McNeil Elementary School, which she had attended, to speak with students. She said students from the school sent her letters two years ago when she first became press secretary, congratulating her and asking her to come back to see them one day.
“I remember when I received those letters two and a half years ago,” Jean-Pierre said. “I wanted to find a time to come back and thank them and thank the community that I grew up in.”
Jean-Pierre is the longest-serving female press secretary ever, and she also made history as the first black person and the first openly LGBTQ individual to hold the post.
After graduating from Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale in 1993, Jean-Pierre earned a bachelor’s degree from New York Institute of Technology and went on to earn a master’s in public affairs from Columbia University in 2003.
She became a part of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and later joined the Obama administration upon his election, serving as the regional political director for the White House Office of Political Affairs. She stayed with Obama through his 2012 re-election campaign and eventually became a senior advisor to Biden’s 2020 campaign.
She joined the Biden administration as principal deputy press secretary in 2021 and made history that year as the first openly LGBTQ person to hold a White House press briefing before becoming the White House press secretary.
In 2014, Jean-Pierre joined the faculty at Columbia University, where she teaches a course at the School of International and Public Affairs. She published a memoir, “Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America,” in 2019.
“This is, in my opinion, one of our greatest days here in the Village of Hempstead, to have Hempstead’s own return back home,” Hobbs said. “And we want her to know how proud we are of her as she represents Hempstead, and not only Hempstead, but the whole United States of America.”
