Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman who is the second-born child of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States and his first wife, Ivana, as well the eldest of two daughters born to her father. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.
Trump was an executive vice president of her family-owned Trump Organization. She was also a boardroom judge on her father's TV show, The Apprentice. Starting in March 2017, Trump left the Trump Organization to become a senior adviser in her father's presidential administration alongside Jared Kushner. After ethics concerns were raised about her having access to classified material while not being held to the same restrictions as a federal employee, Trump agreed to voluntarily file "financial disclosure forms required of federal employees and be bound by the same ethics rules". While serving in the White House, she continued to operate her clothing brand business until July 2018, which also raised ethics concerns, specifically conflicts of interest. She was part of the president's inner circle even before becoming an official employee in his administration.
Early life and education
Ivana Marie Trump was born on October 30, 1981, in Manhattan, New York City, as the second child and first daughter of Donald Trump and his first wife, Czech-American model and professional skier Ivana (). Her father has German and Scottish ancestry. For most of her life, she has been nicknamed "Ivanka", a Slavic diminutive form of her first name Ivana. Her parents divorced in 1990 when she was nine years old. She has two brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric, a half-sister, Tiffany, and a half-brother, Barron.
She attended Christ Church and the Chapin School in Manhattan until age 15 when she switched to Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. When Trump was attending boarding school as a teenager, she began modeling "on weekends and holidays and absolutely not during the school year," according to her late mother, Ivana. In May 1997, she was featured on the cover of Seventeen which ran a story on "celeb moms & daughters".
After graduating from Choate in 2000, Trump attended Georgetown University for two years before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2004. She was the first Jewish member of a first family, having converted before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner, in 2009.
Career
Business
After graduating from Wharton, her father's alma mater, Trump briefly worked for Forest City Ratner. As Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions of The Trump Organization, she was charged with the domestic and global expansion of the company's real estate interests. Along with her father and her siblings, Donald Jr. and Eric, Trump directed all areas of the company's real estate and hotel management platforms. She participated in Trump and Trump-branded projects, including deal evaluation, pre-development planning, financing, design, construction, sales, and marketing. Her portfolio included Trump Hotels' highly acclaimed properties in New York, both on Central Park and in SoHo, Chicago, Las Vegas, Waikiki Beach, Panama, Toronto, Miami, Washington, D.C., Rio de Janeiro, and Vancouver.
In February 2012, Trump led the Request for Proposal (RFP) with the GSA, resulting in the final selection of The Trump Organization to develop the historic Old Post Office (Washington, D.C.). She then oversaw the $200-million conversion of the historic building into a luxury hotel, which opened in 2016.
The Trump Organization also acquired Doral Hotel & Spa near Miami, Florida, now known as Trump National Doral. Trump spearheaded this acquisition and oversaw the $250 million renovations of the 800-acre property.
Soon after joining the Trump Organization in an executive position, she started her jewelry, shoe, and apparel lines, and appeared in advertisements promoting the Trump Organization and her products. Trump was also featured in women's and special interest publications and on the cover of some, such as Harper's Bazaar, Forbes Life, Golf Magazine, Town & Country, and Vogue.
She was featured on the cover of Stuff in August 2006 and again in September 2007.