Hope Hicks, 28, may be named
President Donald Trump's White House communications director shortly.
But before joining Trump's campaign, she had no political experience.
Hicks was born in Greenwich, a town of 60,000 on the southwest tip of
Connecticut that's a favorite spot for hedge-fund headquarters.
She was a model, actress, and lacrosse player as a child, before getting her English degree at Southern Methodist University.
Hicks didn't intend on playing such a large role in a presidential
campaign, instead falling into the gig through a job at the Trump
Organization.
But she now finds herself as one of Trump's youngest advisers,
serving as his new interim communications director in the White House.
And Hicks has been with Trump — to use his words — "from the
beginning." She stuck on his campaign through several staff revamps,
including two high-profile changes at the campaign-chair position.
Here's what we know about Hicks.
Hicks
and her sister, Mary Grace, were successful teen models. Hicks posed
for Ralph Lauren and appeared on the cover of "It Girl," a spin-off of
the best-selling "Gossip Girl" book and TV series.
Source: New York Times
Hicks'
first brush with the Trumps came in 2012 when she was at the
public-relations firm Hiltzik Strategies working on Ivanka Trump's
fashion line. Trump's eldest daughter hired Hicks away in 2014 and she
became an employee of the Trump Organization.
Sources: New York Times, GQ, NYMag
Hicks
met patriarch Trump and quickly "earned his trust," Ivanka Trump told
The New York Times for a June 2016 profile on the spokeswoman.
Then
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with Hicks as he
arrives for service at First Presbyterian Church in Muscatine, Iowa,
January 24, 2016.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Source: New York Times
In
January 2015, Trump called Hicks into his office on the 26th floor of
Trump Tower and told her she was joining his presidential campaign. "I
think it’s 'the year of the outsider.' It helps to have people with
outsider perspective," Hicks said Trump told her.
Corey
Lewandowski, then campaign manager for Trump, stands nearby with Hicks
as Trump holds a news conference in Bismarck, North Dakota, May 26,
2016.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Source: NYMag
Hicks
didn't have any political experience, but her public-relations roots
run deep. Both grandfathers worked in PR, and her father, Paul, was the
NFL's executive vice president for communications and public relations.
He was also a town selectman from 1987 to 1991. Greenwich proclaimed
April 23, 2016, as Paul B. Hicks III Day.
Hicks after a news conference at Trump Tower on May 31, 2016.REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Source: Town of Greenwich, GQ
Hicks
started working on what would become Trump's campaign five months
before Trump announced his presidency, after he famously rode a golden
escalator down to the lobby of his tower on June 16, 2015.
Hicks
crosses paths with Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski
(who was fired in June 2016) at the Republican National Convention in
Cleveland on July 18, 2016.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
That
makes Hicks the campaign staffer who has persisted in Trump's inner
circle the longest. She outlasted his first campaign manager, Corey
Lewandowski, and several senior advisers.
Trump listens to Hicks as he tours the Flint Water Plant and Facilities in Michigan on September 14, 2016.REUTERS/Mike Segar
People close to her describe Hicks as a friendly, loyal fighter. Trump has called her a "natural" and "outstanding."
She
said her mom, Caye, told her to write a book about her experience with
Trump, like "Primary Colors," the fictional novel depicting President
Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. "You don't even know," she
said she told her mother.
Hicks during a campaign event in Phoenix, Arizona on October 29 2016.REUTERS/Carlo Allegr's
Source: NYMag, Primary Colors
During
the campaign, Hicks spent most of her days fielding reporters' requests
and questions — even reportedly taking dictation from Trump to post his
tweets.
Trump's inner circle celebrates onstage at his election night party. (Hicks is fourth from left.)AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Sources: NYMag, NYT
During
the campaign, Hicks stayed in a free apartment in a Trump building,
though she'd often go home to her parents' house in Connecticut when she
could.
Hicks departs Trump Tower in New York on November 11, 2016.REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
These days she's in DC. Trump named her his assistant to the president and director of strategic communications in December.
Trump greets Conway and Hicks during a USA Thank You Tour event in Mobile, Alabama, on December 17, 2016.REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Source: Trump administration
She
still flies below the radar, directing the spotlight back on Trump. The
then president-elect called her up to the microphone to speak at a
"Thank You" rally in December.
It's
been said she can act as a sort of Trump whisperer, understanding his
many moods and professionally executing what needs to be done. She still
only calls him "Sir" or "Mr. Trump."
Hicks
walks with deputy campaign manager David Bossie and senior political
adviser Stephen Miller at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach,
Florida, on December 19, 2016.REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Sources: New York Times, GQ, NYMag
"If
the acting thing doesn’t work out, I could really see myself in
politics," Hicks told Greenwich Magazine when she was 13. "Who knows."
Hicks, Conway, and senior counselor Steve Bannon arrive for the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017, in Washington.Win McNamee/Getty Images
Sources: New York Times
In
June, the White House released salary info for 377 top staffers. Hicks
gets paid the maximum amount that any of Trump's aides receive:
$179,700.
Hicks
walk across the South Lawn of the White House to join Trump aboard
Marine One with Steve Bannon, former chief of staff Reince Priebus, and
Stephen Miller on April 29, 2017.Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images
Source: The White House
Some
family members and friends have expressed concern that Hicks is so
closely tied to a president whose policies and statements are unpopular
with a significant number of Americans, but are confident that she'll
come through unscathed.
Sources: New York Times, GQ
"There
is just no way that a camera or an episode or a documentary could
capture what has gone on. There is nothing like it," Hicks told Marie
Claire in June 2016. "It is the most unbelievable, awe-inspiring thing."
Conway and Hicks watch the daily press briefing at the White House on January 30, 2017.Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Source: Marie Claire
In
August, Trump asked Hicks to be the new interim White House director of
communications, a job that Michael Dubke, Sean Spicer, and Anthony
Scaramucci held and left in Trump's first six months in office. The
White House will announce who will serve in the job permanently "at the
appropriate time."
Sources: Daily Caller, New York Times, CNN
The 28-year-old Hicks is the youngest communications director in history.
Hicks listens while Trump meets with female small-business owners in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 27, 2017.Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images
