There are so many reasons why being a White House HBCU All-Star is so rewarding but receiving breaking news when it breaks from Washington has to be the best! I woke up to the notification from the 2017 White House HBCU All-Star Ambassador GroupMe that former “Apprentice” TV Star turned director of communication for the Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Manigault Newman will be resigning from the White House. According to reports from the White House she’ll be officially resigning from her position on January 20, the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s Inauguration.
The White House said in a statement,”Omarosa Manigault Newman resigned yesterday to pursue other opportunities. We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service.”
This news comes months after it was reported that Trump Chief-of-Staff John Kelly put Omarosa on a “no-fly list” of White House aides who’d wander into meetings without prompting. As a 2017 White House HBCU All-Star Ambassador representing Fort Valley State University, I had the chance to go to Washington in September and meet with the heads of the White House Initiative on HBCU’s and we happen to encounter key members of the Trump Administration. Omarosa was one of them. Our trip in September was a week and a half after the news that Omarosa was on Kelly’s “no-fly list”.
The White House said in a statement,”Omarosa Manigault Newman resigned yesterday to pursue other opportunities. We wish her the best in future endeavors and are grateful for her service.”
I briefly talked about our encounter with Omarosa in my recap of my trip in Washington as an All-Star called “Being An HBCU All-Star Day 2: Meeting Omarosa & Betsy Devos, Networking With BET & Attending A Church Business Reception”. One thing that was interesting was that Omarosa surrounded herself around us a lot. A Central State and Howard University grad, Omarosa called on her experience as an HBCU student and alumni many times to try and relate with us when she was having casual conversation with us.
“We then learned that Omarosa and Betsy Devos wanted to speak with us. Now, let’s quantify this thing. The “special guest” was not Omarosa and Betsy Devos. Nope, the special guest was the new Executive Director of the White House Initiative on HBCU’s Jonathan Holifield who we met thirty minutes later.
How I viewed it, our encounter with Omarosa and Betsy Devos wasn’t planned. It was something that was sort of thrown together at the last minute but they made it work. What was supposed to be us having various workshops on how to be effective leaders on our campuses and execute our initiatives to the best of our abilities quickly turned into a whole program where we sat in the Eisenhower Building press room and Omarosa, Betsy Devos and the new Executive director addressed us.”
Hearing this news is crazy. It’s like an out of body experience. We were just in Washington with her three months ago and encountered first-hand some of the happenings of this White House Administration. It’s interesting to see how things will play out, especially going into 2018. Nevertheless, I will keep you updated on breaking news and also exclusive perspectives on what’s going on. Special shout out to my fellow White House HBCU All-Star Ambassador peer representing Jackson State University Karmeen Childress for the update on the news this morning!
Sources
- Nussbaum, M., Greenfield, J., Scher, B., Hounshell, B., & Shepard, S. (2017, December 13). Omarosa to leave the White House. Retrieved December 13, 2017, from https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/13/omarosa-leaving-white-house-294375
- Bowden, J. (2017, September 10). Kelly bans Omarosa from some WH meetings. Retrieved December 13, 2017, from http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/349948-kelly-bans-omarosa-from-some-wh-meetings
