Trumpconverted to Judaism prior to marryingJared Kushner, a real estate developer, in 2009. The couple has three children. Prior to her political career, she was an executive vice president of her family-ownedTrump Organization and also a boardroom judge on her father's television show,The Apprentice. She also had a fashion lifestyle brand under her own name that consisted of apparel, footwear, handbags, jewelry, and fragrance. Trump shut down the company in July 2018.
In January 2017, Trump became an unofficial advisor in her father'sfirst presidential administration alongside her husband. In March that year, she became an official employee in his administration. While serving in the White House, she continued to retain ownership of businesses. This raised ethics concerns, specifically conflicts of interest.
Early life and education
Ivana Marie Trump was born on October 30, 1981,[1][2] inManhattan, New York City, as the second child ofDonald Trump and his first wife, the Czech-American modelIvana (née Zelníčková).[3][4] For most of her life, she has been nicknamed "Ivanka", aSlavicdiminutive form of her first name Ivana.[5] Trump's parents divorced in 1990 when she was nine years old.[6] She has two full brothers,Donald Jr. andEric, a half-sister,Tiffany, and a half-brother,Barron.
After graduating fromWharton, Trump briefly worked for the real estate firmForest City Ratner.[15] As executive vice president of development and acquisitions ofthe Trump Organization, she was responsible for the domestic and global expansion of the company's real estate interests.[16] Trump led therequest for proposal (RFP) with theGeneral Services Administration in February 2012, resulting in the final selection of the Trump Organization to develop the historicOld Post Office in Washington, D.C.[17][18] She then oversaw the $200-million conversion of the building into a luxury hotel, which opened in 2016.[19][20] Trump also led the acquisition and redevelopment of theDoral Hotel, a 700-room resort, in Miami.[21]
Independent of her family's real estate business, Trump also had her own line ofIvanka Trump fashion items, which included clothes, handbags, shoes, and accessories, available in U.S. and Canadian department stores includingMacy's andHudson's Bay.[22]
Trump in July 2007
Trump formed a partnership with Dynamic Diamond Corp. in 2007 to createIvanka Trump Fine Jewelry, a line of diamond andgold jewelry sold at her first flagship retail store in Manhattan.[23][24] She later began selling jewelry online through her brand’s website, which was relaunched in August 2010.[25] Her flagship moved fromMadison Avenue to 109Mercer Street, a larger space in theSoHo district, in November 2011.[26][27] Celebrities were spotted wearing her jewelry includingJennifer Lopez on the cover ofGlamour[28] andRihanna on the cover ofW magazine.[29] Her brand was named "Launch of the Year" in 2010 byFootwear News.[30] Trump's industry recognitions include the Breakthrough Award at theAccessories Council Excellence Awards presented by designerCarolina Herrera in 2015.[31] Her collection was covered in magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Forbes Life, Golf Magazine, Town & Country, and Vogue.[32] Trump has been featured prominently in profiles in publications including NY Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Forbes, Fortune, Marie Claire, and Glamour.[33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Members of100 Women in Hedge Funds selected Trump to their board in December 2012.[40]
Between 2010 and 2018, Trump worked as a paid consultant for The Trump Organization while maintaining a separate status from formal employment.[41][42] She stepped away from these roles upon becoming a senior advisor in the White House.[43][44] In 2012, she was named to the board of100 Women in Hedge Funds.[40] Her fashion brand, which included apparel and accessories, was sold in various retailers and earned her a Breakthrough Award from the Accessories Council in 2015.[45][46][47][48][49] The brand was later involved in a legal dispute that was settled out of court.[50][51]
Between 2016 and 2017, Trump applied for numerous trademarks in China, with several approved around the time of President Xi Jinping’s 2017 visit to the U.S.[52] A Chinese official stated the applications were processed according to standard procedures, and a trademark lawyer noted the timeline was not unusual.[53][54] That same year, she partnered with the World Bank to support a fund for female entrepreneurs.[55]
In 2018, Trump closed her fashion brand to focus on public policy, following declining sales and increased scrutiny of overseas manufacturing practices.[56][57][58]
After leaving government service, Trump and Kushner partnered with the latter's firmAffinity Partners on a $1.4 billion redevelopment ofSazan Island in Albania, which locals often refer to as "Trump Island."[59][60]In 2023, she co-founded Planet Harvest, a company focused on tackling food waste by redirecting surplus produce and creating consumer goods from excess crops.[61][62]
While Trump was attending boarding school as a teenager, she also began modeling "on weekends and holidays and absolutely not during the school year", according to her mother Ivana Trump.[71] She was featured in advertisements for Tommy Hilfiger,[71]Elle,[72] Vogue,[73] Teen Vogue,[74] Harper's Bazaar,[75] andThierry Mugler,[76] She also engaged infashion runway work.[77][76][78][79] In May 1997, she was featured on the cover ofSeventeen.[80] Trump has been profiled in many women's fashion magazines, includingVogue,[32]Glamour,[81]Marie Claire,[82] andElle.[83] She was featured on covers such asHarper's Bazaar,[75]Forbes,Forbes Life,[84]Marie Claire,Golf Digest,[85]Town & Country,[86]Elle Décor,[87]Shape,[88] andStuff magazine.[89] Trump was featured inVanity Fair's annualInternational Best Dressed Hall of Fame List in 2007 and 2008.[90]
The book was part of Trump's associated marketing campaign also titled "Women Who Work".[44] It received mixed reviews from critics.[97][98][99]
Trump campaign and administration
2016 presidential campaign and election
Trump introduced her father at the Trump Tower in 2015 as he announced hiscandidacy for president of the United States.[100][101] She publicly endorsedhis presidential campaign and made public appearances supporting and defending him.[102][103][104] However, she admitted mixed feelings about his presidential ambitions, saying in October 2015, "As a citizen, I love what he's doing. As a daughter, it's obviously more complicated."[105]
In January 2016, Trump praised her father in a radio ad that aired in the early voting states ofIowa andNew Hampshire.[106][107] She appeared by his side following the results of early voting states in 2016, in particular briefly speaking inSouth Carolina.[108][109] She was not able to vote in the New York primary in April 2016 because she had missed the October 2015 deadline to change her registration to Republican.[110]
Trump introduced her father in a speech immediately before his own speech at the2016 Republican National Convention (RNC) in July.[111] Trump addressed issues including equal pay for working mothers and the availability of affordable, high-quality child care.[112] She stated, "One of my father's greatest talents is the ability to see the potential in people", and said he would "Make America Great Again".[113] Her speech was well received as portraying Donald Trump "in a warmer-than-usual light", according toThe Washington Post.[114] After the speech, viewers commented that the speech was "one of the best – if not the best – of the night", and that Trump is the "greatest asset Donald Trump has".[115] Others said that her speech was the "high point of the convention".[116]
An earlierPost article had questioned whether the policy positions Trump espoused were closer to those ofHillary Clinton than to those of her father.[117]
Trump attended her father’s presidential inauguration and was involved in coordinating some event logistics, including rates for venues and meals at the Trump International Hotel, where the inaugural committee used privately raised funds—a common practice for such events.[118]
Advisor to the President of the United States
In January 2017, Trump resigned from her position at theTrump Organization.[119] The organization also removed images of Trump and her father from their websites, in accordance with official advice on federal ethics rules.[120]
Trump (fourth from right) attending the signing ceremony for theINSPIRE Women Act on February 28, 2017, in theOval Office of the White House
After advising her father in an unofficial capacity for the first two months of his administration, Trump was appointed "Advisor to the President,"[121][122] a government employee, on March 29, 2017.[123][124][n 1] She did not take any salary for the position and didn't receive any government health benefits during her four years at the White House.[121][128][129] She also became the head of the newly established Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.[130]
In late April 2017, Trump hired Julie Radford as her chief of staff. Before the end of the month, Trump and Radford had plans to travel withDina Powell andHope Hicks to the firstW20 women's summit. The W20 was organized by theNational Council of German Women's Organizations and the Association of German Women Entrepreneurs[131] as one of the preparatory meetings leading up to theG20 head-of-state summit in July. At the conference, Trump spoke about women's rights. The same month, Trump and thenWorld Bank presidentJim Yong Kim authored an op-ed published in theFinancial Times on women's economic empowerment,[132] highlighting the critical role that women play in the development of societies and the business case for involving women in the formal economy.[133]
In July 2017, Trump attended the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, with President Trump and the United States delegation.[134] She launched We-Fi (Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative),[135] a United States-led billion-dollar World Bank initiative to advance women's entrepreneurship.[136]
In August 2017, President Trump announced that Ivanka would lead a U.S. delegation to India in the fall in global support of women's entrepreneurship.[137][56][138] In September 2017, Trump delivered an anti-human trafficking speech at theUnited Nations General Assembly, calling it "the greatest human rights issue of our time".[139] The event was hosted by then British prime ministerTheresa May, who personally invited Trump to participate, in collaboration with Great Britain and Ireland.[139]
President Trump, Ivanka and British prime ministerTheresa May attend a business roundtable event atSt James's Palace inLondon, June 4, 2019.
After the G20 Summit in Osaka in June 2019, Trump joined President Trump to meet with the North Korean leaderKim Jong-un inside the Korean peninsula'sdemilitarized zone.[142][143] She described the experience as "surreal".[142]
The Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP) also aimed to increase access to vocational training, capital, and networks for women in the workforce, and remove limits on women's economic participation. The two houses of Congress introduced bipartisan bills to attempt to codify the initiative.[151]
Trump backed a bill to fund paid family and medical leave for federal employees, which was passed by the Senate in December 2019.[154]
She supported passage of theFight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR 1865), which passed through both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Trump in 2019.[155]
In January 2020, Trump organized a Human Trafficking Summit at the White House where President Trump signed an executive order expanding his domestic policy office with a new position solely focused on combating human trafficking.[156][144] In June 2020, Trump hosted an event at the White House withthe Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr, special advisor Heather C. Fischer, non-profit leaders, and survivors of human trafficking to announce $35 million in grant funding to aid victims of human trafficking.[145]
In September 2020, Trump joined William Barr, the governor of GeorgiaBrian Kemp, the first lady of GeorgiaMarty Kemp, andTim Tebow in Atlanta to announce $100 million in grant funding for human trafficking.[157][158]
While serving in her father's administration, Trump retained ownership of businesses, which drew criticism from government ethics experts who said it created conflicts of interest.[159] It is not possible to determine the exact amount of Trump's outside income while working in her father's administration because she is only required to report the worth of her assets and liabilities in ranges to theOffice of Government Ethics.[159] The incomes of Trump and her husband Jared Kushner ranged from $36.2 million to $157 million in 2019, at least $29 million in 2018, and at least $82 million in 2017.[159] In 2019, she earned $3.9 million from her stake in the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C.[159]
When asked about her father's 2024 bid for presidency in November 2022, she said,
I love my father very much. This time around I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and I will always be proud of many of our Administration's accomplishments.[163]
Social and political causes
Trump (second from left in first row) atSeeds of Peace in New York City in 2009
In 2007, Trump donated $1,000 to the presidential campaign of then-SenatorHillary Clinton.[164][165] In 2012, she endorsedMitt Romney's presidential campaign.[166] In 2013, Trump and her husband hosted a fundraiser for the Democratic politicianCory Booker, and the couple bundled more than $40,000 for Booker'sU.S. Senate campaign.[167]
During her father's presidency, Trump transformed from a liberal to an "unapologetically"pro-life, "proud Trump Republican".[168] At the2016 Republican National Convention, she said of her political views: "Like many of my fellowmillennials, I do not consider myself categorically Republican or Democrat."[169] In 2018, Trump changed her New York voter registration from Democratic to Republican.[170][171]
Philanthropy
In 2010, Trump cofounded Girl Up with theUnited Nations Foundation.[172] In 2014, Trump launchedIvankaTrump.com and the Women Who Work campaign which focused on young, modern professional women, aiming to provide a comprehensive lifestyle guide.[173]
In 2021 and 2022, Trump partnered withChobani CEOHamdi Ulukaya to launch a privately funded holiday food box program that delivered millions of meals nationwide.[177]
Trump collaborated with the nonprofit organizations CityServe, City of Destiny, and Mercy Chefs to supply a million meals to Ukrainian families in March 2022.[178] In December that year, she purchased generators for CityServe's partner churches in Ukraine that were without power.[179] That same year, alongside healthcare industry leaders, she organized five cargo planes of requested medical supplies for Ukraine with the support of thefirst lady of Poland and thePolish ambassador to the UN.[180][181]
Trump has a close relationship with her father, who has publicly expressed his admiration for her on several occasions.[182][183] Ivanka has likewise praised her father, complimenting his leadership skills and saying he empowers other people.[184]Sarah Ellison, writing forVanity Fair in 2018, noted that "everyone in the family seems to acknowledge" that Ivanka is her father's "favorite" child.[185] This had been confirmed by the family members themselves in a 2015 interview withBarbara Walters on network television where the siblings were gathered and acknowledged this.[186] According to her late mother, Ivanka speaks French and understandsCzech.[187]
In January 2017 it was announced that she and Kushner had made arrangements to establish a family home in theKalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[188] The couple had previously shared an apartment onPark Avenue in New York City, which Trump chose due to its proximity to her work with theTrump Organization. The residence was featured inElle Decor in 2012 with Kelly Behun as its interior decorator.[189] Since leaving Washington in 2021, Ivanka and her husband have been residents ofSurfside, Florida.[190][191]
Trump began practicingBrazilian jiu-jitsu under the Valente brothers alongside her husband and children.[192] Trump enjoys golf, surfing, and horseback riding, and has learned to play both the piano and guitar.[193][194]
Relationships and marriage
Trump was in a nearly four-year relationship with Greg Hersch while in college.[195][196] From 2001 to 2005, she dated James "Bingo" Gubelmann.[197][12][195] In 2005, she started dating the real estate developerJared Kushner, whom she met through mutual friends.[198][199] The couple broke up in 2008 but reconciled and married in aJewish ceremony on 25 October 2009.[198][200] They have three children: a daughter born in July 2011, and two sons born in October 2013 and March 2016 respectively.[201][202][203] In an interview onThe Dr. Oz Show, Trump revealed that she had suffered frompostpartum depression after each of her pregnancies.[204]
Religion
Trump (far right) with (from centre to right) her father, stepmother and husband at theWestern Wall atTemple Mount inJerusalem in May 2017
Trump and her husband keep akosher home and observe the JewishSabbath.[210] Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the couple visited the grave of theLubavitcher Rebbe to pray.[211] In May 2017, they joined her father on his presidential visit to Israel, including a stop at the Western Wall.[212]
Recognition
In 2012, the Wharton Club of New York, the official Whartonalumni association for the New York metropolitan area,[213] gave Trump the Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership, one of their four annual awards for alumni.[214] In 2014, Trump was named to Fortune’s ’40 Under 40’ list.[215]
^The original designation of "First Daughter" was later dropped from the official title.[125] Ivanka Trump is sometimes also called a 'Senior Advisor to the President' (or sometimes a 'senior advisor to the President', without the upper case 'S' and 'A'),[126][127] even though that is actually the title of her husbandJared Kushner, while her own title is 'Advisor to the President'.[124]
^"About Ivanka". Ivanka Trump. November 14, 2012. Archived fromthe original on November 14, 2012. RetrievedJune 12, 2017. For level of honor see last paragraph of website bio.
^"Coverage of the Republican Convention. Aired 10-11p ET". CNN.Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. RetrievedNovember 29, 2016.As the proud daughter of your nominee, I am here to tell you that this is the moment and Donald Trump is the person to make America great again!
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