Drama Queens - Work in Progress: Karine Jean-Pierre

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Karine Jean-Pierre grew up the proud daughter of immigrants who came to this country for a better life. And she achieved the ultimate American Dream, making history as both the first Black woman and the first openly gay person to serve as the White House Press Secretary. During an in-person sit down at the White House, Sophia catches up with Karine, who reveals what really happens outside of the Briefing Room, the secret to her success, how her tough childhood shaped her, the historical significance of the room they're chatting in, and why representation matters to all of us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Friends, I don't often get to record episodes in person anymore because once the pandemic began, we all started doing this on Zoom. but today I'm coming to you all from my favorite place in the United States of America, the White House. And we have so many exciting things to talk about why we're here. No, for everyone who's going to ask on social, like, aren't you used to it by now?

I will never get used to this. This is the coolest thing ever. But I'm sitting down with our incredible press secretary, Korean-Jampier, and there's plenty for us to discuss about what you do here, but what I really want to tell the people at home is that like me, you are a wildly huge fan of the Olympics. I am. I love the Olympics so much since I was a little, little, little, track and field is my thing. Gymnastics, ice skating in the winter Olympics. And I was a track and field runner in high school.

So I did the 400 meter hurdle. So watching the Olympics was like my deal. My deal. I loved it. Loved it so much. It was so much fun. I really went into a depression when it ended. I think everybody is. I think the whole world did. Yeah. And it was a connector. It like connected. It was like humanity, sportsmanship. It was just beautiful to watch and we needed it. Yeah, we did. It's a really nice reminder that we all live in a global community and we all actually can both compete within reason and root for each other. Yep.

That's a nice kind of ethos. That's what's so special every four years. And I think the Winter Olympics is every two years. I forget now. And you have an opportunity, the best of the best, just come together in this amazing sportsmanship. And they compete. And I don't know. It's just everyone gets to root for whoever they love, what country they represent.

And it's a beautiful thing. It's a, there's something about it that's honorable. It makes you feel very patriotic. Yeah. And it is not about Republican Democrat, if you're looking at the USA piece of this. It's not about the party you belong to. It's lifting up these incredible young people who have trained all of their lives to be exactly where they are the best of the best. And then when they embody that themselves and they are embodying this amazing person that they all are,

and you see that and it shine and what they have to give up to get there, oh, the stories. The stories get me. The stories get me. Well, it's hitting me in real time that you're talking about Olympians, but you could also be talking about what you do. You could be talking about advocacy being a public servant at this kind of level. You essentially have won the gold medal of journalists when you become the White House Press Secretary, don't you think?

I mean, it is an honor and a privilege to be the White House. press secretary and to speak on behalf of this president and on behalf of this country in many ways when you think about how what we do in that briefing room every day when we have a briefing is that we are exercising democracy not just here in this country but globally it is being televised right that briefing is being televised around the world and everyone wants to hear what the white house what the president of the united states is thinking about ex-issue issue, why issue, how we're responding to whatever issues happening, not just domestically, but globally, and it matters. And so it is truly tremendous. It is amazing being at that

brief room. Can we, can you, can I nerd out for a second? Yes, please. Because we are in this room right now. Yeah. Can we just talk about this room? Oh, I've taken all the photos of everything in this room. So, so that your listeners, watchers know, we are in room 180. Room 180 is literally one of my favorite rooms on this campus. I'm so glad we're doing this interview here because it's connected to the question that you asked me. So the White House campus is on 18 acres of property. And there's the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is a building that we're in. The White House is literally right there.

And Room 180 used to be, right now, White House staff can book this room. But Room 180 used to be the vice president's office. Presidents have used this room, and we are sitting in the room where Dr. Martin Luther King sat in. Dartmouth, Martin Luther King, Jr., sat in this room back in February 9th, 1965, ahead of the Voting Rights Act. And he had worked very closely at the time in 1965, Humphrey was vice president, but when Humphrey was senator, worked really closely with Humphrey on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And obviously, black Americans, African Americans in the South could not vote, and they would do these voting registration events, and it would become bloody. They would get attacked. And in February, in February of 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King came here.

He met with Vice President Humphrey and then had the opportunity and impromptu meeting with President LBJ Johnson. And the Voting Rights Act passed in August. But in between there, you had Bloody Sunday on March 7th of 1965. And obviously, we all know our history here. That's where John Lewis was a young 23-year-old who became an icon of the civil rights movement, led, helped to lead a march across the Pettus Bridge. And if you look around this room, all of that is depicted in photos, in pictures. You have the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King. You have these amazing quotes.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Dr. Martin Luther King. You have Lyndon B. Johnson, quote, I can't see it from here. And then you have, there are those who say to you, we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 117 years late. That's Vice President Humphrey. I mean, this is this room. Yeah.

This is this room. So I'm glad that we're in here because it speaks to the great. of this country when we all come together for the better good. And I think if you fast forward to what this president has been able to do, this Biden Harris administration, me being in the role that I'm in, which is as a historic first, people are able to see a black woman at that podium standing behind that lectern. And it changes what a White House press secretary is supposed to be, right? You think about the vice president, Vice President Kamala Harris, the president picking her as her running mate, and she is a first in her role. You think about

Kataji Brown-Jackson. You look across the cabinet secretaries and how diverse that is. This is the most diverse administration ever, ever. And I think this speaks to who we are. This speaks to who we are as a country. And this speaks to the future and where we can be. And that has been, just going back to your question, that is what's been so honorable and a privilege to to be part of this administration. When we started this conversation, you said, you know, it's your favorite place. The White House is a favorite place and how it never gets boring or you're never tired of it. And I've always said, if I ever get tired of coming through those gates and walking through the West Wing lobby, then I should not be here.

It is always a joy and a privilege, and I always pinch myself when I am sitting in my office in the West Wing thinking, oh my gosh, I'm here. and daughter of immigrants, and who never thought I would be where I am today. I'm sorry, that was a very long- No, I love it. I want to sob. I love it. But that's the story. It's all connected. It's all who we are. It's our history. It's all history, yeah. There are people who will rightfully criticize things about this country.

And what I always want to say in response is, yes, and we have a lot. We have work to do, certainly. But the magic of the American experiment, American democracy founded on these ideals of equity, equality, that this was a place where anyone could come and build a dream. They are perfect ideals, and we have imperfectly stumbled ever closer to them because we're people. And what excites me about the way you tell a story like that is it's a reminder. of what we're all working for and tying it into, you know, our beginning talking about loving the Olympics, it really is a reminder that if you zoom out, if you get outside of the party argument and you look at the country, the health of the country, we know that the more of us

that get represented, the better everybody does. Exactly. And I don't think it's an accident that you and I get to sit here. You know, you talk about being the daughter of immigrants. my dad came to this country in the 1970s, didn't become a citizen until I was 13. My mother's mother came to this country on a boat through Ellis Island. Wow.

And to you serve at the pleasure of the president, I answer any call that comes from this complex, from any office in it as an advocate, as someone who tries to translate policy into the personal for folks out there, because comms turns out are my job. And we are, sitting in this room and I am looking at you sitting under this Humphrey quote. I say we're

172 years late and behind you for our friends at home who can't see us is the window that overlooks the entrance to the west wing. It is 50 feet from us. I am looking at you sitting in front of the view of the door you walk into your office every day and it's profound. It gives you chills. Yes. It is profound. We just look at at, you know, the anniversary of suffrage, which benefited women who look like me, but not women who look like you. Yeah. And when we see the way, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, thinking about, you know,

how some of the suffragettes that I was raised to think of as my heroes also were traitors to other women in my life and my generation, friends like you, women like my best friend, Nia. And I have to hold the both and. Yeah. And it isn't lost on me that. Anytime we fall for the illusion of making partial progress or thinking will be protected by proximity to power, harm is done in the wake. So white women got the right to vote, but look at how long it took us to get Roe v. Wade,

to get to 1973 to have autonomy over our bodies. People of color didn't get the right to vote. What we got instead were Jim Crow laws in the South. We see the modern-day version of those laws being enacted right. right now in states that are... Yes, I mean... This week, right now. It's unbelievable to me, you know, learning from Stacey Abrams and Mark Elias about states

that are requiring you to have an original birth certificate to register to vote when there are lots of folks, our parents or our grandparents' age, who don't have that. They don't have that. They don't have that. And it sounds familiar, right? I started off talking about this room, what was going on in 1964, voting registration events. It's happening again. And some of it is it's more blatant, right? Not as in your face, but in many ways it is in your face.

Yes. And so it is, and we have to educate ourselves and understand what's happening and we have to protect the people around us. We have to protect all of us. And, you know, we are in a, there's a lot at stake right now. There continues to be a lot at stake. And we have to make sure that we're paying attention. to what is happening not just around the country, but in your own community, in your own community.

And that is part of why I think I want to repeat how important it is that you do what you do every day. Because as you said, for the White House Press Secretary to get up in front of the world and talk about democracy and answer questions that are important, that are difficult, that are timely, that are local, that are global, It is an exercising of democratic power. It is an example setting on repeat.

And I think when you put it in the context of what we see in the history of this room from the 1960s, in these modern fights we're having to have about equity and democracy, you realize why democracy really has to be a verb. You have to act it every day to keep it going. Yeah. Yeah. It's so true. Yeah. And it's so interesting, too, because so thinking about LBJ, thinking about the fact, this is President Johnson, obviously, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And very recently, the president went to the LBJ library. We got to see those very original legislation that was there. Do you get to touch them or they? No, they're just protected. Yeah. They're definitely. I wasn't sure if for the president, if he could put on, like, white gloves and touch them or if they're hermetically sealed. I can't even speak for the president if he got to see it. But we got to see it as staff, and we walked around the museum and the library, and it was pretty amazing.

And it's all connected, right? We're all circling here and connecting. And that day, he went there to speak about reforming of the waste of reform scotus because of what's been going on there. Yes. And nobody is above the law, right? You've got the rule of law. And this is something that continues, right? How do we continue to protect our democracy?

How do we continue to respect the rule of law? And this is something that we have been doing in this administration, obviously this president for some time for years now. Yes. And you're right. We have to continue to protect that at every level, at every level. And because if we don't, we lose that thing that you were talking about when you think about this country and possibilities, you lose that. You lose what that means. So what you can

accomplish there. And now for our sponsors. And I think it isn't lost on anyone, particularly, you know, when you come from these great immigrant stories in their individual ways. But that sort of universal experience of wanting to come to this country because of what it means. You know, we have so many people who come here to get away from autocrats, to get away from dictators, to get away from court systems that are legal only in terminology but not in practice. And so to feel our democracy slide in that direction is very scary. And I am bolstered by how many people are paying attention now in ways that perhaps I don't think we were eight years ago when we were so shocked to lose to, you know, an authoritarian candidate, which I will move on from because you are friends

at home. I want to read you something. This is very important. We're having a history lesson on work and progress today. So, as you know, my friend Corrine is the White House Press Secretary. What that means is that she is an official federal employee. She is a federal employee. She is not here on behalf of, you know, a president or a campaign. She is limited under the Hatch Act and cannot discuss the election or the campaign. But something I find interesting, as a civilian, you don't have to respond to this, but it does feel very important to educate the listeners. You just go ahead and sit back. If any of you have studied what happened under the administration of the former guy, I don't like to utter his name. It feels like bad luck to me. The U.S. Office of the Special

Council did release a report that over a dozen top administration officials who worked for, I'll say it, President Trump violated, said Hatch Act. There were more than 100 legal complaints filed. This creates danger to our institutions because what it means is it creates a taxpayer-funded campaign apparatus within the upper echelons of our executive branch. This is a huge breach of conduct. So when we talk about the fact that, unlike that press secretary, this lovely press secretary will not commit, quote, repeated and egregious hatch act violations. This is why it matters. So friends, if you didn't... I should bring you to the briefing room. Oh, I would love it. Put me up on that podium. I will school some people.

So if you didn't understand just what a legal violation, what happened in that, you know, former admin, looked like now you do read up on it some more. You're welcome. We're going to leave that there. But you will all understand at home why there are certain conversations, even though we are leading into an election,

that I can't have with my friend here because she's not a violator of the law. I actually want to zoom out from the election, the White House, your job, which you know I'm obsessed with. But I actually want to go into the direction of that story of your parents. Oh, yeah. Because you mentioned how wild it is for your immigrant parents to watch television and see

their daughter. Yeah. The first black woman to be a press secretary at the White House, the first black gay woman to be a press secretary of the white house. First person of color. I mean, they're a lot of first. You are so many first. And by the way, may I also say like, you know, the first black woman to stand up there

with her beautiful natural hair? because we're out here still having conversations about the Crown Act. Also look that up. Yes. Friends at home. Please, please. It is so monumental. And it's interesting, right?

Because folks that have traditionally held power will often say to women or women of color or people of color, well, why does your identity have to be everything you talk about? And it's like, well, you won't let me forget what my gender or race is because y'all are trying to legislate against my equity all the time. So perhaps you should focus on it less. And they're trying to gaslight us all the time about that too, yeah, all the time, yeah. But still, again, the both and, it's not perfect, but there's possibility here. It's why your family came here.

Can you share a little bit of what your parents have told you about their American dream and paint a picture for our audience about when they came here and what your young childhood life was like? So I love that question because the American dream looks different for everybody. and some people never obtained the American dream. And I also want to put that out there because it is very tough. I mean, while people, many people, immigrants come here for a better life. We are a country of immigrants. An opportunity to give our children, our families a better way of life. You dream about opportunities that you certainly didn't have where you came from.

And so there is that American dream, but it can be elusive. and I am my parents' American dream and they very much still live check to check. I want to be very honest about that. But watching me be where I am today in the White House is a dream come true for them because one of the reasons they came to this country is to make sure that their kids had a better education.

And that happened. And it is, you know, my mom gets emotional every time she watches me on TV, I remember bringing her to the White House state dinner, the very first one that we had with France, which was December, which was in December of 2021, I believe, or I can't remember, 2021, 2022, sorry, 2022. And she met the president for the first time. She cried. And he was so phenomenal.

President Biden opened up his arms and she put her head in his chest and she was just weeping. she thanked him, and it was after that night, either that night or the next morning, she said to me, that was the best night of my life, because it all came together for her. You know, my parents were from Haiti. When they left Haiti, it was a dictatorship, and they wanted better. They wanted better for themselves, better for their children. So they came to the States. We went to France first, so actually lived right outside of Paris for a little bit, then came to the U.S.

and my dad became a New York City cab driver. I mean, it's that story that you hear over and over. My mom was a home health care aide, and they still, you know, did those jobs for a very long time and very much still live check-to-check. You know, my mom looks for her pension and, you know, her Social Security check every month. We try to help her navigate through the medical system, right?

We try to help her navigate through now, that she is a senior citizen, help her navigate through that, and make sure she's being taken care of, same with my dad. And, you know, now we're taking care of them. But it is, I think of them and what they told me. I was a kid that I would come home crying because I was made fun of, teased for, you know, the way I looked or, you know, the way I dressed, whatever it was, because we didn't have much growing up. And my parents would say, don't listen to them. And They would tell me how special I was. They would tell me I can do anything it is that I wanted to do.

And they were my biggest cheerleaders, obviously, my biggest supporters, and I would not be here without them. And it was tough growing up. It was really, really tough. And having my parents there, and they would never, it was very interesting. I'd come home and I would be crying, and I would be really upset, or I would tell them what happened once they got home. And they never went into the issue or the problem, right? They never, like, dived into it, and they were just kind of, they just, like, brush it off. It's okay, we know how special you are.

It doesn't matter what they say. You are the best of the best, you know, and they made me feel really proud of who I am and who I became to be, obviously, as an adult. And my mom, I talk about her a lot because I watched her. be a fighter through every job that she had, everything that she did for her kids, everything that she did for her family. And she had such strength and grace. And that's hopefully what I embody. You know, strength, grace, and appreciation for people, respect for people, respect for myself. And just continuing, just working hard until you get to the yes or until you get to the accomplice. that you said, that goal that you set for yourself.

Yeah. And she was one of the most impressive people that I've ever met. And the first hero, shiro that I ever had was my mom. And that continues. Even now, I watch her sometimes. I'm like, how do you continue to fight? You're always fighting. And it is the most honorable thing, the most beautiful thing that I've ever witnessed.

And so that's, it's very much, it's like a third of who I am, right? there are many reasons, not who I am, but a third of how I got here, right, which is that foundation, how I grew up, what I saw as a kid, my experience is. It's very much a big part of who I am today. And I never forget that. I never forget that. And I try to, you know, empower that into my daughter. And it's important for me to do that too. Yeah. I read, And, you know, your memoir is so beautiful for our friends at home. Green's book moving forward is amazing. And you talk so much about your journey in that book. And one of the things that really stuck out to me, you said you felt like a third parent very often in your household, which I think is a

very common experience for daughters of immigrants and oldest daughters, certainly. And I wonder how some of those things that can certainly shape us in tough ways, how do you see that sort of third parent role now as the accomplished woman that you are? How do you make space for the ways that it was difficult, but also likely made you this powerhouse of an adult? So yeah, I had to become an adult at a very young age because my parents were working six, seven days a week. I barely saw them. You know, I remember there would be a time where I would go to bed and I would try to wake up early to see them, but they were already gone. And because they were working 12, 15-hour days. And I had a younger brother, a younger sister, and I took care of them. You know, we had we had

babysitters and neighbors who watched over my siblings, but, you know, I played a role in making sure that they were okay. They were being fed. They got out ready to go to school. And I became I'm an adult. You don't even realize it at the time, right? At the time, you're just doing your part for the family. You don't realize that you're growing up very fast and you're missing out on a lot of the fun, a lot of the kid stuff that kids do. And so I didn't have that. I think now that I have a kid, that part of my childhood informs me as a mom. And what I mean about that, mean about that is, or mean by that, is, you know, I try to, I'm very, very mindful in my kid having a childhood. I'm very, very mindful in what I share with her and what she experiences.

I'm very, very mindful of how important it is for her to hang out with her girlfriends or hang out with her buddies and have those experiences. Have unstructured playtime. And it's, it might sound minor, but because of my experience, it plays a role into her experience and how I mother her or be a parent to her because she's obviously luckily for her two moms but it is really important to me and how I my part of the co-parenting how I make sure that she has a fulfilling childhood because I want her to have that do you feel like in certain ways because you missed round one of childhood play yeah that now raising a daughter of your own

you get to almost relive your childhood as her best friend as her playmate. Yeah, it's like, oh, yeah, now I get to do, oh, this is what this was like as a kid, right? I do get to have some fun. Yeah, bike ride around the cul-de-sac kind of vibe, you know? Like bike riding and doing fun things and I don't know. Yeah. You know, double dutch or whatever it is, doing the things that I wasn't able to do as a kid and, you know, hide and go see all the fun things and like you become like this adult child with your kid right

because you're having fun with them and you're experiencing things that you wanted them you would have wanted to experience yourself for them yes and it's so interesting to me thinking about it being in this stage you know where so many of the people in our lives you know have kids of their own or in relationships with people with kids yeah we are also the generation that has the most access to information. That's right. Mental health research. You know, I don't think our parents knew about reparenting your inner child, but we do.

We do. And we, I think it's so cool that we get to be conscious of it when it's happening. I love it. And you just said something mental health. That is something as a kid. I couldn't, when I was, you know, when I was 16 years old coming out to my mom, it was, you know, it didn't go well, right? And then you deal with all the emotional baggage from that.

And you don't talk about going to therapy or we didn't talk about going to therapy or dealing with your own mental health. And now today it is something that is so important that is so key and people just functioning and dealing with loss. You think about coming out of COVID and the pandemic and what these kids had to deal with. And that is one of the things that I'm, you know, one of the platforms that both the First Lady and the president talk about is, mental health. And when you hear it at the top, right? When you hear it from an administration, a White House administration, then it feels safe for all of us to talk about. And yeah, it's so important because we didn't talk about that growing up. Right. I didn't talk about that growing up, especially in immigrant household. You don't talk about that stuff. Well, because you're working so

hard to assimilate and be good. And, you know, not have a problem. Don't look over here. Yeah, yeah. And you don't want to stick out. You don't want to stick out. We'll be back in just a minute after a few words from our favorite sponsors. Do you think hearing it from the top down in the way that you're discussing? Because I feel very similarly, you know, in whether it's entertainment, you know, in my day job world or my, you know, partner doing this advocacy in sport. I believe, I know we all do, we believe that vulnerability can really be a key to new and healthier, community. Yeah, yeah. Do you think it was what you learned in those vulnerable spaces or perhaps examples set by people, you know, like the president and Dr. Biden? What inspired you to be so

vulnerable in your book? Because I, and I'm asking this, you know, A, as a interviewer, but also as a person who is considering how much I want to share of my own life. Because when you do these jobs and you are a public figure to be reduced to a fraction of yourself is painful but to share your deepest secrets with everyone is so exposing it is and i you took my breath away in really special ways because in the book you shared about really difficult experiences but they're common for a lot of women yeah from you know suicidal ideation or attempting to sexual abuse You just put it out there. I am so in awe and also wondering how you decided and knew it was the right choice.

So I think for me, and it's a good question, because sometimes I'm like, wow, I really put it all out there. You go, oh, it's there. It's in the bookshelves. So I believe it was a way of owning my story, right? And I think that a reclamation of power in a way. I think that's exactly right. And it's too, it's reclamation of power of a thousand percent, but also being a leader and leading and showing that it's okay to be vulnerable. And also telling people, I see you too.

If people see me, then hopefully they also feel like they're being seen, if that makes sense at all. Yeah. And so there were a couple of things. It was certainly reclaiming myself, my life. by telling my truth, but also sharing because I felt like at the time I had a leadership role. People were looking towards me, and I was, you know, a leader for so many people that I felt like it is important to put that out there. And I want people to heal. And maybe by sharing my story, hopefully others will heal or get on the path of healing. And I, I think

think it matters for people. And it goes back to what you were saying about being the first and being the first of so many. Representation matters. It really matters. And I think it's connected to the book as well. It's like representation is so important. And when people see you and you break that visual, whatever mindset of what a particular role is supposed to look like, and you break that And it opens up to you and you're saying to yourself, oh, yeah, you know what? I can do that role because look at her, look at him, look at them, look at that person. And you can break how that's visualized for people. And I think if you tell your story, it also, you don't know what people are suffering from or dealing with.

And so if you're a public figure and you're out there and people see you, because we're not all perfect. Yeah. Right? People look at you and they're like, and you. And you're this gorgeous, beautiful woman. And people say, oh, she's so much perfect. But you've had your trials and tribulations, right? And I think if people know that, then they're like, holy cow.

Yeah, right? It's like, you know, Sophia's made it. And she's wonderful and she's a wonderful person, but she has a story to tell. And we all do. And that helps me. Yeah. And I find, to your point, the willingness to share in that way, when you said someone might see that and begin to heal. I think so often, whether you've been through, you know, trauma or abuse or whatever it might be,

you get convinced by the lie that something happened to you, that maybe you deserved it. Yeah, that's true. And when you realize how universal these experiences are, we can start doing some of what happens in an incredible building like this. And we can look at the root causes of these systemic problems and say, okay, if we have a mental health crisis, If we have a problem with violence against women, how are we going to solve those problems? How can we all, and to your point about representation, we've got to have diversity of thought and experience in the room because that's how none of the problems get left in the corner where someone didn't see them because someone didn't have them.

You know, a lot of people bark about the way we talk about diversity and representation. and what I always want to encourage them to realize is that the more of us there are in a room, the better the outcomes for everyone, including the people who used to be the only ones in rooms like us. Exactly, exactly. And it's very interesting, too. I mean, look, I talked about how diverse this administration is. I talked about my role here. Obviously, we've gone back and forth about being the White House Press Secretary. But I honestly don't think that. that I would be the White House Press Secretary if it wasn't for President Biden and Dr. Biden. And I say this because you have to have people who believe in you as well,

who see you in the way that they see you. And I think that matters. Representation matters, but you also have to have those allies, those people, mentors, people who look up and say, no, you should be exactly where you are or you should be even elevated even more. And I don't think I would be in this position if it wasn't for them. They wanted to make sure that their White House press secretary represented yes and their voice. Yes.

But also, you know, the country and meet the moment that we are in. And I think that matters too, right? It matters that Lyndon Johnson, LBJ, signed the Voting Rights Act, signed the Civil Rights Act, right? It matters that, you know, Dr. Martin Luther King and so many other civil rights. icon, they came together to get that done. And it takes that, it takes that effort to get that done. And so you fast forward to today and all the work that we still need to get done and the historic work that we have gotten done. And it takes all of us, all of us to come together and make that happen. So when you talk about the president and the first lady having that kind

of faith in you, you know, I want to give some of the folks at home a little bit. A little bit, of the background of how this happens, because prior, you know, to being in the administration, you were a senior advisor, you were a national spokeswoman for moveon.org, which is an incredible progress and advocacy group. And then you became a senior advisor to the president's campaign in 2020. How? And then I was, I don't think many people knew this. I became, for the last three months of the 2020 campaign, I was the chief of staff to the running mate, which was oh wow

then Senator Kamala Harris so it's like full circle in many ways and then I came when I came into the to White House I went into the press shop yeah well so you

you have this wonderful history of advocacy you know that I think we'll get into a bit about what you learned at home and what you learned in your early career can you tell folks at home

how does one become a press secretary what is your job we see you in the briefing room. What happens here all day for the people that say, I think I want to do that, but like they don't really know what happens outside of the daily brief? Oh, there's so much more that happens outside of the briefing room, but I see the hum around your office every time I don't know, but I know folks that don't have questions.

There's a lot that happens. So in a regular day, I wake up pretty early in the morning, and I start taking in the news, whether it is, you know, the print online TV, I just start kind of consuming what's out there, what's the news of the day, what's hopping, what are the things that reporters care about, in particular the White House Press Corps cares about because those are the reporters that we deal with. I have 12 amazing people on my team who are part of the White House Press Office, and they all have their own kind of issues that they manage, that they're working on, and they're constantly working on stories.

And I come into the office. I have meetings. I have meetings all throughout the morning. And the first meeting that I have starts at 7.30 a.m. in morning. And so we do that. And then I spent about four or five hours prepping for the briefing. And I have people, to your point, you know, zipping in and out of my office coming through, prepping me and getting me ready for whatever news of the day issues that reporters care about.

And then I do a briefing that's up to between 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I have a guess. Sometimes I don't. And so that takes a big chunk of my day. But I also have to prep the president, sometimes travel with the president, work with other departments across the administration on particular issues that they're dealing with. And I'm in a lot of meetings that I have to senior level meetings that I'm in because it's not just about the day. but it's about, what are we doing three months from now, two weeks from now, next week. And so there's a lot of planning, a lot of prepping, a lot of, you know, there are fires that you have to just get rid of, takeout.

Yeah. And so I always tell my team they are on the front lines. They are on the front lines of what is happening in the world, literally in the country and certainly in the world with the incoming of questions and things coming from reporters. And so we are on the front lines. I call them superheroes because they're pretty amazing and what they're able to do. But also, you know, the person that I have to that I have to report to is the president directly. You know, what's in the news, what's going on, what's happening. And so it is a 24-7 job.

Of course. And it is an, I always say this because it's very true. It is an honor and a privilege to be in this job because I would never thought that I would be doing this. When I was growing up, just going to your question here, I thought I was going to be a doctor. My parents, being immigrants, they wanted me to be a doctor, a lawyer, engineer. Those are the things, right, that they thought. I would get the joke in the heavy Italian New York.

No, there I go. I would get that you can be a doctor or a lawyer or a lawyer or a doctor. I love it. I love it. I love it. That was like the grandparents vibe. I love it. And for them, that was success.

And I thought that's what I was going to do. do. And then I decided coming out of college that I didn't want to be a doctor, that that wasn't my passion. So what I tell young people that come up to me and ask me about how I got to where I got to the secret to my success, whatever question that I get, I would say to them, follow your passion. Follow what you're passionate about. And sometimes you'll be in a place where you're like, well, how am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to get to New York? How am I going to get to L.A.? How am I going to get to wherever you want to get to live those dreams or D.C. in this instance. I say to them, worry about it, obviously, but don't worry about it at the same time, right? If you're passionate, you'll find a way. You'll find a way to get through that and really continue to build on that dream that you have for yourself. Yeah. We'll be back in just a minute, but here's a word from our sponsors. Well, and something I think is really amazing.

And, again, I want to be very respectful of what you're allowed to and not allowed to say as a, federal employee, but it is not lost on me that you grew up in a home with a mother who was a care worker. Yeah. And that you currently work for a presidential administration that has done more for care workers, the care economy, and people in need of care than any administration in history. I mean, a couple of things I'll just say because I don't know if you are allowed. Again, I don't know if you're allowed to, but I would be remiss as a citizen journal.

not to, but, you know, our current administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris, have put these issues squarely into not just an agenda on health care, but the economic agenda. They have invested in the dignity of care workers, which includes affordable child care, paid family leave, paid medical leave, elder and disability care, living wage jobs for care workers, which you know to be so important for our friends at home. In April of 2023, they signed one of the most sweeping executive orders, actually the most in history. Over 50 directives made to make care more accessible and affordable, which meant that another 100,000 American families have more affordable child care and more of the issues I listed a moment ago. And I don't know

if in your conversations in this complex, the care economy and care workers come up a lot, or if it happens to be a coincidental confluence of who you are and who they are. But I guess I wonder, again, not to get into the politics of it, as we have an impending election, but I wonder how your mom's caregiving experience, how it shaped your relationship to your public service, but what it feels like to work in an administration on a day when those executive orders get signed? It's mind-blowing, truly. It truly is mind-blowing because, to your point, I think many of us come into this life of public service for many reasons, and my guess is, and I can only speak

for myself, my experience as growing up as a kid, as a young adult, has certainly led me to this space because I wanted to make people's lives better, because I saw what my parents going through, whether it was healthcare, whether it's just having a minimum wage that they could afford, buying a home, you know, buying a car, paying student loans, helping us pay our student loans going through school. And I watched them really suffer. I watched them go through a lot of heartache and, you know, trying to just put us in the best schools that they can. And I think I talk about this. I've talked about this. I remember they sent us to Catholic school. And the reason we went to Catholic schools because the public school system was not great where I grew up.

I went to public school for one year, and my parents worked really hard to get me into public school. And I remember there'd be times where I would be sitting in the principal's office because they didn't pay. They couldn't pay that month, and I had to, but they understood that I couldn't stay home because there would be nobody home, and my parents had to work. So they allowed me to come to school, but I had to sit in the principal's office until my parents could pay the tuition. I mean, those are the stories that not just my parents have, but many others have. And so working in this administration, you think about elder care, child care, paid leave, the cancer moonshot. We just went to New Orleans to announce a major initiative coming out of that. You think about all of these initiatives that matter personally, to me, and to so many others.

But this is why I came into this space. This is why I'm working for this administration. I told the president recently he would be the only person that I would ever do this job for because I believed in the work that he wanted to get done. And you think about the first four months, for example, of this administration, we got something called the American Rescue Plan. We got that done. Only Democrats in Congress signed, voted for that. The president was able to sign.

No Republicans signed on to that. And what that did was, you think about the economy, it turned the economy back on its feet. You know, the strongest economy in the world, leading economy in the world. And you think about that moment, what was happening. There was COVID. There was a pandemic. A once-in-a-century pandemic. That was devastating the economy.

Schools were closed, businesses were closed, and we needed to get things back up. That American Rescue Plan put. a few hundred bucks in people's pockets. There was a child tax credit, which helped, you know, eliminate some of the poverty that we were seeing in communities like mine. I mean, a reduction in childhood poverty of over 50%, over 50%, that matters. A couple of hundred bucks in people's pockets, that matters.

Shots and arms, right? So that you think about communities that are overlooked, black and brown communities, poor communities, this is a president that made sure that there was equity at the center of that so that they were able to get that vaccination, that they were able to get what was needed to get them back on their feet. Now there's more than 19 million applications for small businesses because of the American rescue plan,

because of the president's economic policies and putting equity at the center of it. So we turn that around. And that's why many of us, I could speak for many of my colleagues. That's why we're here because of that public service and what we get to do, whether it's the economy, whether it's these different policies that deal with child care, elder care, paid leave, as you just mentioned. I mean, we just recently, the president made a huge announcement with the vice president and the first 10 drugs that Medicare is now able to negotiate so that big farmer doesn't cheat us. Yes.

Billions of dollars. Six billion dollars. That matters. To cap insulin for people at 35. That matters. That matters to people. I read the testimony of a young delegate who went to the convention for the first time this year. And, you know, he's a college kid and applied. And he was talking about how he and his mother both have type 1 diabetes. And how what the Biden Harris administration has done to ensure their access to the medicine they need to stay alive is the reason he's gotten politically active as a young person. And I just thought, that's it. Politics is personal, right? Politics is personal. Politics is personal.

Yes. And, you know, when you talk about the economy, one of the things that was so inspiring to me to see the domino effect of the American Rescue Plan. You know, again, COVID, global crisis, once in a hundred years, pandemic, the world shut down. And to see some of our pure nations experiencing inflation at 18, 21%, and President Biden and Vice President Harris brought ours down so quickly. that we actually began to stabilize the entire global economy.

We not only got our inflation to a historic low without causing a recession, which again, for my friends at home, Google it. This is a real thing. This is math. It's the first time we've been able to do that without causing a recession in history and other countries' inflation rates are coming down

because of our economy. Leadership matters. It matters so much. Leadership. And it's the sort of thing that excites me because now to see that they've stabilized the economy in this once-in-a-hundred-year crisis, and now they're going after the price gouging of the big corporations, they're going after creating fair prices for pharmaceutical companies, and the DOJ is suing this crazy housing

software that's been jacking up everybody's rent. I am like, go off, Mr. President, Madam Vice President, I love y'all. Like, they are fixing. I can't speak to what the DOJ does. I know you can't. But I am. the civilian on this podcast and I read about it yesterday and I'm very thrilled and like it's it is such an incredible thing to see action being taken on behalf of people yeah and again we didn't even talk about the student loan right debt forgiveness predatory predatory death it doesn't it doesn't actually have to exist it doesn't have to exist and it thrills me to see all of this and I I guess I just wonder you know again, you represent so many intersections, as I know I do in my own right. And I just, I know how

meaningful it is for me as an advocate, you know, as a surrogate for this campaign and others. As someone who comes here on my free time, you know, spends my own money to be here, to speak, to show up and testify in front of Congress because I believe in my duty as an American to my fellow Americans, for you to be inside of this administration. Like, you actually work here. I'm clearly the biggest fan of this place, but you work here. And we appreciate you. Is it the wildest thing to see this much sweeping, incredible, historic policy for the

people while you work here? So two things I want to say. Two things I want to say. First of all, thank you for your leadership and your advocacy. And it is amazing what you do on your own time. on the issues that you believe in and you use your voice, you use your platform. It is not easy to do, and I understand that. I know I'm a pain in the ass, but I can't help it.

But it matters. Like, we need more, Sophia's. Like, we really do. We need more people like you to be out there using their platform to lift up the people who can't, right? The people who don't have the ability to lift themselves up on issues that matter. And, you know, I talk about equity. I talk about making sure we don't leave. different communities that are historically left behind, behind.

And this is, I mean, look, I start off saying why I decided to work for the Biden-Harris administration, why I decided to work for this particular president, is because I believed in his leadership and believed in what he wanted to do and knew because of his experience, because he was senator, because he was vice president, that he knew how to get this done. And you're right, there has been a sweeping amount of legislation that people had told us that we could not get done from the American. American Rescue Plan to the bipartisan infrastructure legislation. And the last administration, infrastructure was a joke.

Every two weeks, it was infrastructure week. It was a joke. And now we got it done in a bipartisan way. Yes. Because of who he is, he was able to reach across the aisle and get this done. And it's no longer a joke. We got the PACT Act, which helps our veterans and their families. Yes.

And got that in a bipartisan way. We got the chips and science act. We're talking about bringing manufacturers. manufacturing back here to this country, which creates good-paying job. I mean, that matters. Things made in America. I mean, this is about investing in America, and it's so important. We already talked about the health care side of things with the Inflation Reduction Act,

also the biggest, biggest climate change, kind of legislation, investment into beating climate change, dealing with climate, what we're seeing right now. He got that done. And so, you know, it is, you started off saying this, that this, he's going to go down as one of the greatest presidents of our lifetime because of what he's been able to do in four years. Yes. In four years. And it's because of his experience. It's because he's been here in Washington, D.C. for a long time, but also understood relationships and understood what matter to people and who he is fundamentally at his core, how he grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

and in Delaware and knowing what it's like to sit around a kitchen table and having to make those difficult decisions. I know as a kid, you know, who was as adult, had to become adult as a young kid, you sit around the kitchen table and you're looking at the expenses. You're looking at your opening up bills that says past you on the envelope. And you're trying to figure out, holy cow, how we're going to pay to make sure the lights stay on. You know, how to make sure that we have enough clothes.

or enough to make sure that my brother and my sister are able to, you know, it's winter this year, you know, we're going to get a big storm, right? Winter's coming. How to make sure that they have a coat and boots so that they can go to school. I mean, this is the things, food around the table. And so these are the hard, difficult decisions. So I get it. Yeah. And I think that's why, for me, just talking for myself personally, how I'm able to talk about these issues in a in a real way because I've experienced it. And I know this president has experienced it. And I know it's all coming from this administration,

the Biden-Harris administration, is coming from a place where we understand what it is like when you don't have. When you don't have the medication that you need, the life-saving medication that you need, to survive, to just survive. And so it is, it's, it has been quite remarkable. Being able to be at the front lines of what we've done at this administration and to be able to lift up what we've been able to do, it has been quite remarkable.

I mean, I just imagine you almost feel so incredibly proud. Yeah, oh, I'm so proud. You have such incredible, you have an incredible ability to reflect on how change happens in our nation. And, you know, we are on the precipice of change. And with our president saying, I've done my duty here and it's time to pass the torch, you know, we are in this incredible season of, you know, transformation and leadership. And to see him do that not only for such a wonderful and tremendous vice president, but for a black woman, a black South Asian woman, it's monumental to me as a woman. It is. Yeah, it is.

it's emotional, it's incredible, but it's not surprising. Yeah, right? If you think about the last three and a half, almost four years, if you think about his commitment, if he think about him saying he was going to be a transition type of president, if you think about him picking then-Senator Kamala Harris to be his vice president, it is not surprising. It is not. And, you know, it is not. It's, It is rare that you meet someone who meets the moment and understand their place in this moment and is the embodiment of patriotism. Yeah. Right.

It's the definition of what patriotism is. Mm-hmm. And that is Joe Biden. I love that. Yeah. When you think about it, big moment, big four years. Big four years. Big, all of it.

It's big. Yeah. And you think about the country, and you think about the world, how do you come back into your own body in a moment like this and think from here out as you look at the next few months and the next few years? What feels like your work in progress? Wow. This is going to probably sounds weird, but I think the next four or five months now, wherever we are, it's probably going to be the most important couple of months that we have experienced only because. because there is so much more to get done, only because now we know, right?

We have four months to get this done, four months to get that done. And so we want to, and I believe, and I'm speaking for him here a little bit, I think he wants to continue to keep that commitment. So there's still, to your point, a lot of work in progress. We still have to figure out how do we lower costs for Americans. Sure. We still have to figure out how do we beat these corporations who are trying to take advantage of everyday people

and there are ways that we can do that right there's still a global leadership that we have work to be done there and I know that something that is something that the president has led on so I think there's like an anxiety and eagerness

you know to be like oh my gosh we still have a lot more to get done and it's going to be exciting for me yeah just for you oh my gosh for me like working process like what else in the next couple of months? It doesn't have to be about work.

It could just be life. I mean, listening to you rattle all this off. I'm like, your work in progress needs to be a vacation and a cocktail. I don't know what you feel like it is. Oh, man. You know, look, I have this amazing little human that I get to co-parent, and I want to do right by her. And that is a major work in progress for me,

is how do I continue to do that work? And so that is big And that is something that I certainly will I will be doing for the rest of my life Because you're a parent throughout your life Obviously, it doesn't stop at 18 It continues I have a long way to go before 18 hits anyway

So that's really important My family more broadly I think I'm still growing And learning about myself And I feel like I'm still very much a work in progress And we'll continue to be and things that I want to learn and grow into and be. And I don't know, it's going to be exciting.

You know, I've been in the space for three and a half years, right? It very much focused on the work. And I always tell people, when you're a White House press secretary, there's no personal life, right? That you, I go to the grocery store and people see me as the White House Press Secretary. I don't see me as Karin-Jean-Pierre. So it is going to be a transition of, okay, how am I no longer the Wales Press Secretary

and now I'm Karin-Jon-Pierre again? Yeah. And what does that look like for me? And so I think it's something that I have to think about. I can't wait to find out. Oh, gosh. Thank you so much for this. Thank you.

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