Bilden: Desirée Rogers the White House social secretary and the first black woman to hold that post. Ms. Rogers, a former executive at Allstate Financial and an Obama fund-raiser, is responsible for every event that goes on in the White House residence. She coordinates with chefs, florists, lighting technicians, military aides, musicians. Her job is to carry out the vision of the president and first lady, and to make their social events reflect their sensibilities.Ms. Rogers is resigning her position a few months after she was roundly criticizedfor a security lapse that led to uninvited guests crashing the president's first state dinner in 2009. The announcement was made Feb. 26, 2010. Julianna Smoot, a Democratic fund-raiser and chief of staff to the U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk, has been named as her successor.
Ms. Rogers was a newcomer to politics as well as to Washington, and in her first year on the job, she became known for bringing an updated, stylish sensibility to White House events, and for bringing outsiders -- schoolchildren, in particular -- to what she and First Lady Michelle Obamacalled "the people's house." Working with the first lady, she set about opening the mansion's doors. Young jazz musicians were invited to a Stevie Wonder concert. Gay families were included in the traditional Easter egg roll. Non-Irish people were invited on St. Patrick's Day. Culinary students toured the kitchen and met the chefs.
Willowy and fashion-forward, with a chic pixie haircut, a designer wardrobe and a Harvard M.B.A., Ms. Rogers promptly broke the dowdy mold for the job. She posed for Vogue, turned up at the Thakoon runway show in New York and was quickly named the city's best-dressed woman by readers of The Huffington Post. She drew on her marketing savvy to talk up "the Obama brand." She organized a string of much-touted events -- a poetry slam, jazz and country music nights -- that helped turn the Obama White House into a nerve center for creativity and culture.--- It was a spread in The Wall Street Journal's magazine, WSJ, with expensive clothes and jewelry provided by the magazine, that got her in trouble in the White House. Mr. Axelrod was as bothered by her discussion of "the Obama brand" and her role in promoting it.---- ----------
Läs mer ( N Y Times): .--http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/politics/12rogers.html-----------------------------------------------------------------
