Jen stood up at the podium at 7:06 P.M. EST after a long day of the inauguration, on January 20, 2021. She fielded questions from reporters about the many different topics that Biden addressed within the first day in office.
But before the questions began, she prefaced it by setting a precedent: “When the President asked me to serve this role, we talked about the importance of bringing truth and transparency back to the briefing room, and he asked me to ensure we are communicating about the politics across the Biden-Harris administration and the work his team is doing every single day on behalf of all American people.”
The nation looked upon this first press briefing after a long day and was wondering who this quick-witted press secretary is.
Psaki began her political press career straight out of her undergrad in college. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in English and sociology from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She began the re-election campaign of Iowa Democrats Tom Vilsack for governor and Tom Harkin for the U.S. Senate in 2001.
Following that election, only four years after graduating, she worked in 2004 for John Kerry’s presidential campaign as the deputy press secretary. Then, from 2005 to 2006, she was the communication director for U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley and regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Then in 2011, Psaki transitioned into briefly working as the senior vice president and managing director for Global Strategy Group. But, in 2012, she returned to the Obama campaign with reelection as the press secretary, worked as the Obama Administration Spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2013 to 2015 and then-White House Communications Director from 2015 to 2017.
Following the Obama administration, she was a CNN political contributor from 2017 to 2020. In November 2020, she joined the Biden-Harris Transition team and was named the White House press secretary for the Biden administration. This made her the 34th White House press secretary.
Personally, I look forward to seeing her commitment to sharing truthful information to enforce our democracy. She makes her job look easy, effortlessly communicating on a multitude of issues that are going on within the presidency. She treats reporters respectfully, no matter the question and fully answers the best of her ability.