From Models To The White House: Hope Hicks - Donald Trump's Personal Secretary

2023 Author: Amber Richards | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 00:24

Hope Hicks entered Donald Trump's campaign headquarters as a personal press secretary, whose duties included not only communication with the media, but also maintaining pages on social networks on his behalf (which is not so easy, given the billionaire's desire to share on Twitter every moment of his life), as well as accompanying the boss on thousands of work trips. However, a place on a private jet next to the future president is not cheap: for the sake of this position, Hicks had to forget for six months what her own family looks like, and even part with a young man with whom she had a long and serious relationship. But it seems that for Hope the game was worth the candle: the boss appreciated the girl's honesty and loyalty and, having won the election, offered her the position of director of strategic communications at the White House. This year, Hope scored another small professional victory: the girl topped the list of the top 30 most successful young Americans in politics according to Forbes magazine (project 30 under 30). Beauty and youth, of course, are not the girl's only trump card. As Hope's friends and colleagues say, working with such a controversial person as Donald Trump, the girl is helped by natural gentleness, ethics and boundless willpower.

At 28, Hope Hicks has cemented her fame as the youngest woman in the presidential administration. They say that now she alone decides with which of the journalists her boss will communicate.

Performance and endurance

Hope grew up in a city of wealthy and intellectuals - Greenwich, Connecticut, which, obviously, became a real source of strength for her. At the University, Hicks developed not only intellectually, but also physically: the girl played in the local lacrosse team. This game is considered quite tough and traumatic, but Hope was never timid. The former coach of the girl Liz Holmes once even told reporters from The Washington Post: “She is incredibly smart, and she played smart too. She was a real team player and a fighter at the same time. " Hicks' sense of purpose was so strong that she was the only one on the women's team who had never violated the ban on alcohol.

Perhaps it was steel endurance and willpower that helped Miss Hicks to build a brilliant career at the age of 24 in the famous American PR company Hiltzik Strategies. By the way, thanks to this work, she met the Trump family, who almost immediately included her in the PR team of their business empire.

Entering Trump's campaign headquarters, Hope also showed miracles of efficiency. She accompanied the boss on all his trips around the country and every day processed 250 requests from journalists - and all alone (we will mention that in the Hillary Clinton team, the work that Hope alone did for Trump was performed by about 10 professional PR-specialists).

Hicks's colleagues argue that working for such an unpredictable boss like Trump will not ruin the girl's future career, because it is not who she worked with that matters, but how she performed her duties. For example, executive vice president of the Hollywood studio Relativity and longtime colleague of Hope David Shane told reporters: “Considering Hope for a position in my company, I, as a boss, would be interested, first of all, not in how she created an image for Trump, but in how she worked in harsh conditions, and how good she was in public. She knows her job well."

Between glamor and politics

Hope never spreads about her political views, and she never had any experience in political PR. Donald Trump, of course, was not afraid, because, after all, the absence of a political past is its distinctive feature as well. Hicks herself as a PR specialist has always been inextricably linked with the entertainment, fashion and show business. Having met and made friends with the Trumps, Hicks began to conduct PR campaigns for several resorts they owned, and also promoted a clothing line from Ivanka Trump.

Hope says that she received an offer to become Trump's press secretary during the election campaign almost in the form of an ultimatum. Trump was so confident in the girl's abilities that he did not even discuss the details of future work with her. As Ivanka Trump told the press at the time, "to work with my father, you must first earn his trust, and she earned it long ago."

By the way, while working in the fashion industry, Hope managed to try herself as a model herself. Due to the similarity with the famous top model Hilary Rhoda, Hicks managed to collaborate with Ralph Lauren and, of course, she can boast of working with Ivanka Trump. Moreover, the girl also played a cameo role in the series "Guiding Light" and even starred for one of the covers of Cecile von Ziegesar's novel The It-Girl.

Trump opposite

Hope herself, as a true "team player", does not like camera flashes and most often politely refuses personal interviews, devoting herself to creating a favorable information space around the boss. Hicks doesn't even have his own social media account, preferring to blog directly for his boss. Trump, of course, appreciates the loyalty of his subordinate and does not stop talking about it at numerous press conferences.

Oddly enough, Hope enjoys Trump's full trust and gets along well with him largely due to the fact that she is not at all like him in character or behavior. Colleagues at work note her natural softness and delicacy, her ability to choose expressions in dealing with journalists, while her boss never stands on ceremony with the press. Journalists covering the course of the election campaign also noted its responsiveness. For example, she may well postpone her affairs in order to help some lost reporter get through the security post and get to a press conference with her boss. “She knows how to feel people,” admits former Hope boss Matthew Hiltsik. “She has a great work ethic, learns and adapts, and her temperament helps her withstand blows.”

Probably, Hope's amazing hard work, beauty and gentleness of character fully compensate for the girl's lack of any political experience. On the other hand, having taken one of the most prestigious posts in American politics at the age of 28, Hope, like the new president, will have to persistently prove to the public that even without the appropriate experience, you can prove yourself an excellent strategist.