Given the controversial nature of his campaign and the subsequent US presidential elections, by now we all know everything about Donald Trump. But what do you really know about the two new main women of the White House?
Donal Trump has five children – Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr from his first wife Ivana, Tiffany from his second wife Marla, and Barron from his third and current wife Melania. His wife Melania and daughter Ivanka will both be taking up administrative positions at the White House during Trump’s presidency.
So, let’s find out a little more about them.
Melania Trump
Melania was born to Amalija and Viktor Knavs in 1970 in the south-east of Slovenia, which used to be Yugoslavia. She will be the first First Lady of the US to hail from a communist country.
She began her modelling career at the age of 5 and signed up with a modelling agency at 18. She moved to New York in 1996, got her permanent residency in 2001, and acquired a citizenship in 2006, after marrying Donald in 2005.
She remained on the sidelines throughout Trump’s presidential campaign and claimed that she didn’t like being very political in public, even though she kept abreast of her husband’s political decisions privately.
Here are some facts you should know about Melania Trump:
She speaks 5 languages. Slovene, English, French, Siberian and German. Phew! No matter how much people mock her accented English, that’s an impressive number of languages for one person.
She is business minded. She launched her watch and jewellery collection, Melania™ Timepieces & Jewelry, in 2010 on QVC. In 2013, she debuted a skin care line, Melania Caviar Complexe C6, which she promoted on The Celebrity Apprentice and The View.
She’s a philanthropist. Not really surprising, but definitely noteworthy. Melania has been associated with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, active with the Police Athletic League, an honorary chairwoman for the Boys Club of New York for the past five years, and in 2005, she was awarded the title of Goodwill Ambassador by the American Red Cross.
She has voiced her opinion against bullying. Five days before the election, in a rare campaign speech, Melania said that if she became the First Lady, she would work to combat a culture on social media that has become “too mean and too tough” and which is filled with insults based on “looks and intelligence”.
(This would be really cool if her husband wasn’t the biggest troll in the history of Twitter.)
She has decided not to move into the White House for the first few months. She will be staying in the penthouse apartment of Trump Tower in New York City until her son Barron’s private school in Manhattan closes for the summer.
Ivanka Trump
Ivanka was born in Manhattan, New York city in 1981 to Donald and his first wife Ivana Trump. She started her modelling career at 16 but quit the industry after high school. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004.
She married real estate developer Jared Kushner in 2009, and the couple has three children – Arabella, Joseph, and Theodore.
As opposed to Melania Trump, Ivanka has made several public appearances throughout her father’s presidential campaign and made her support of him very clear right at the beginning. Here’s what you need to know about her:
She is an impressive businesswoman. In 2007 she formed a partnership with a diamond vendor, Dynamic Diamond Corp., to create Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, a line of diamond and gold jewellery. She is currently Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions at the Trump Organization.
She also serves on the Board of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, an industry organisation that provides support to women professionals in finance. She has her own line of fashion items, including clothes, handbags, shoes, and accessories.
She is a strong advocate for women’s rights. Ivanka Trump set up the #WomenWhoWork initiative in 2014.
Her first book came out in 2009, titled The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life. Her second book, titled Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success, is due in March 2017.
She might step in as quasi-First Lady while Melania stays in New York. Ivanka has stepped down from her position at The Trump Organization, and will reportedly be taking up ceremonial First Lady roles in Melania’s absence. She has moved to Washington, DC with her three children and her husband Jared Kushner, who will be her father’s senior advisor.
Admittedly, you can’t compare either of them to outgoing US First Lady (queen, she was the queen!) Michelle Obama – because nobody can beat her, obviously – but, these two women are pretty remarkable in their own right.
To what extent their presence will affect the working of the White House in the next four years remains to be seen; we can only hope for the best!
You’d also like to read:
http://edtimes.in/2016/12/fake-friendly-friday-with-the-person-of-the-year-unfortunately-donald-trump/
