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Barbara Bush | |
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.jpg) Bush in 2016 | |
| Born | Barbara Pierce Bush (1981-11-25)November 25, 1981 (age 43) |
| Alma mater | Yale University (BA) Harvard University (MPA) |
| Occupation | Health care activist |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Political party | Independent |
| Board member of | Global Health Corps |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | |
| Family | Bush family |
Barbara Pierce Bush (born November 25, 1981) is an American activist and author. She co-founded and is the chair of the board of the nonprofit organizationGlobal Health Corps.[1] She and herfraternal twin sister,Jenna, are the daughters of the 43rd U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush and former first ladyLaura Bush. She is also a granddaughter of the 41st U.S. president,George H. W. Bush, and former first ladyBarbara Bush, after whom she is named.
Barbara Pierce Bush was born on November 25, 1981 atBaylor University Medical Center inDallas, Texas.[2] When the family lived in thePreston Hollow section of Dallas, she and her twin sister,Jenna, attendedPreston Hollow Elementary School; Laura Bush served on Preston Hollow's Parent-Teacher Association at that time.[3] Later, Barbara and Jenna attendedThe Hockaday School in Dallas. When her father becameGovernor of Texas in 1994, Barbara attendedSt. Andrew's Episcopal School inAustin, Texas. She beganAustin High School in 1996, graduating with the class of 2000.[4] Barbara graduated fromYale University, where she was a member ofKappa Alpha Theta,[5] with a bachelor of arts degree in Humanities and earned aMaster in Public Administration fromHarvard Kennedy School as a fellow with the Center for Public Leadership.[6]
She worked for theCooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, a subsidiary of theSmithsonian Institution.[7][8] Previously, she had been working withAIDS patients inAfrica:Tanzania,South Africa, andBotswana, among other places, through a program sponsored by theHouston-basedBaylor College of Medicine's International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative.[9][10][11][12] Her interest in the issue began when she went to Africa with her parents to launch President Bush'sEmergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).[13]
Barbara is the co-founder and president of a public health-focused nonprofit,Global Health Corps.[14] Global Health Corps provides opportunities for young professionals from diverse backgrounds to work on the front lines of the fight for globalhealth equity.[15] In 2009, Global Health Corps won a Draper Richards Foundation Fellowship, and Bush was made a 2009 Echoing Green fellow for her work with Global Health Corps.[16][17] Bush was also chosen as one of the 14 speakers selected from an applicant pool of 1,500 to speak at theTEDx Brooklyn event in December 2010, where she spoke about Global Health Corps.[18]
In 2011, Bush released a video with theHuman Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, calling onNew York State to legalizesame-sex marriage.[19][20] "I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality," she said in the brief message, sponsored by an advocacy group. "New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.'"[20] Bush joined other children of prominentRepublican politicians—includingMeghan McCain andMary Cheney—in endorsinggay marriage.[20]
Bush's graduation from Yale in May 2004 was given heavy media coverage. She and Jenna made several media appearances that summer prior to the2004 U.S. presidential election, including giving a speech to theRepublican Convention on August 31.[21] She and Jenna took turns traveling toswing states with their father and also gave a seven-page interview and photo shoot inVogue.[22][23] Jenna later confirmed that she and Barbara both had developed a friendship withJohn Kerry's daughters,Alexandra andVanessa, who had similarly campaigned on behalf of their own father (who was theDemocratic nominee for president).[24] Bush joined her mother on diplomatic trips toLiberia in January 2006 to attend the inauguration of PresidentEllen Johnson Sirleaf[25] and toVatican City to meet withPope Benedict XVI in February 2006.
Unlike most of her relatives (but like her twin sister Jenna), Bush is not a member of theRepublican Party. In 2010, Bush and her sister toldPeople that they preferred not to identify with any political party, stating, "We're both very independent thinkers."[26][27][28]
In October 2024, Bushendorsed and campaigned for Democratic presidential nomineeKamala Harris in the2024 U.S. presidential election.[29]
Bush and her sister authored the memoirSisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life, published in 2017.
On October 7, 2018, Bush married screenwriter Craig Louis Coyne in a private ceremony at theBush family compound inKennebunkport, Maine, with only 20 people attending. It was held then in part so that Bush's grandfather,George H. W. Bush, whose health was on the decline at the time (and woulddie a month later), could attend.[30][31] They held an additional wedding reception six months later in April 2019 with 100 guests.[32] Their daughter was born on September 27, 2021.[33][34] Their son was born on August 4, 2024.[35]
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