Hope Hicks

Meet the woman once dubbed the "survivor" of the Trump campaign. Hope Hicks served as the interim White House Communications Director and then official White House Communications Director until she left the post in February, 2018.

Hicks, a 28 year old native of Connecticut, grew up playing lacrosse and doing some modeling with her sister. She then attended Southern Methodist University where she was captain of the lacrosse team and known for being more of a team contributor than a leader. 

After graduation, Hicks moved to New York where she worked for the public relations firm, Zeno Group. Two years later, she took a job with a new PR firm, Hiltzik Group, where she began working closely with one of their clients, none other than Ivanka Trump. She evidently impressed Ivanka so much that she was hired away from her position by the Trump Organization in 2014.

In the Know

Hicks was asked in early 2015 by Trump himself to help coordinate the foundations of his campaign. Since then, she has been a close advisor and the only one to maintain her position within communications. 

Hicks evidently was one of the few people who did not underestimate Trump's ability to win the presidency. She's known for keeping her head down and letting Trump do his thing, which many on the Trump team credit for helping him win.

Her hands-off approach to Trump does, however, have its cons. She was the only aide in the room when Trump gave his controversial New York Times interview, in which he said he regretted hiring Jeff Sessions, made inappropriate jokes about holding hands with Emmanuel Macron, among a litany of other shocking and incoherent rambling. This means that some criticize her approach when it comes to Trump's relationship with the press. It was reported that several times during the interview, she did advise Trump that he did not have to answer all questions, though Trump blundered on happily. This interview also ruffled the feathers of other White House employees, who were not informed ahead of time that the interview was taking place. This reportedly caused some tension between Hicks and then Communications Director, Sean Spicer, and then Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. 

2017 Headlines

Aside from making headlines for being the only one in the room during the NYT interview, Hicks  made headlines for being dubbed the Interim White House Communications Director. 

Fun Fact

The President calls her "Hopester." Barfo. She was also one of the people on Trump's team invited to meet the pope, even though then Press Secretary  Sean Spicer, was by far the most devout Catholic.