Jen Psaki: Press Secretary’s Age, Bio and More Quick Facts

Jen Psaki has been tapped as the White House Press Secretary for the Biden Administration, and we’ve got all the details, including some quick facts that Americans should know about the new voice and face of the nation’s top office. Psaki is 42 years old and was born in Stamford, Connecticut. Her father, James R. Psaki, is a retired real estate developer, and her mother, Eileen Dolan Medvey, is a psychotherapist. Psaki graduated high school in 1996, then going on to attend the College of William & Mary. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in English and sociology and also competed as a backstroke swimmer for the William & Mary Tribe athletic team for two years.

In the early years of her career in politics, Psaki worked with two Iowa Democrats: Tom Harkin, who ran for the U.S. Senate, and Tom Vilsack, who ran for governor. In 2004 she served as deputy press secretary for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and then later worked as communications director to U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley. Psaki also previously served as regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Next up, Psaki worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, serving as traveling press secretary. After Obama won, Psaki was brought along to serves as Deputy Press Secretary but was later promoted to Deputy Communications Director.

After stepping away from the White House to take on the roles of senior vice president and managing director at the Washington, D.C. office of Global Strategy Group — a public relations firm — Psaki returned in 2012 as press secretary for President Obama’s reelection campaign. She was promoted to United States Department of State spokesperson in 2013 and was later rumored to be in consideration as the replacement White House press secretary Jay Carney, who left in 2014, but the job went to Josh Earnest. Psaki later returned to her former role as the White House’s communications director until the end of the Obama administration.

Over the past four years, Psaki has worked as a political commentator for CNN. As for her personal life, Psaki has been married to Gregory Mecher since 2010. Mecher is a deputy finance director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The couple shares two children.