{"id":7375,"date":"2026-05-12T09:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=7375"},"modified":"2026-05-13T10:24:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:24:03","slug":"at-the-helm","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2021\/features\/at-the-helm\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018At the helm\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kathy Andrews<\/em>
\nPortraits by Stephen Voss<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWalking through the White House gates never gets old,\u201d says Julie Mason \u201993, whose third White House tour of duty began in January 2021. As deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff to the second gentleman, Mason brings invaluable experience from more than 25 years in federal and state government, political campaigns, and the business and nonprofit sectors.<\/p>\n

Her chief responsibility is overseeing the contributions of the first second gentleman in U.S. history, Douglas Emhoff. She appreciates the \u201cfresh eyes\u201d Emhoff brings to his role and is excited about helping him to determine which initiatives he\u2019ll focus on as he supports the administration and, in particular, the work of his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n

Harris is breaking barriers as the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected vice president. At the same time, her husband has become a national role model for male spouses of powerful women. Videos of Emhoff, such as one where he is blowing kisses to Harris before President Joe Biden\u2019s first address to Congress, have gone viral. \u201cHe has been surprised, I think we all have,\u201d says Mason, \u201cat what seems perfectly normal, supporting one\u2019s spouse, getting so much attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emhoff, Mason, and team hit the ground running in the initial months of the Biden-Harris administration, supporting pandemic response and economic recovery efforts. \u201cThe focus has been on making sure we can get Americans healthy, building confidence in vaccines, and sharing news about the president\u2019s initiatives to help families get back on their feet and build back the economy,\u201d Mason says. Emhoff\u2019s Twitter feed (@secondgentleman<\/a>) offers a glimpse of his cross-country travels, including visits to small businesses and to vaccination sites at community centers and mobile clinics and on tribal lands.<\/p>\n

Emhoff, who has led an accomplished career as an entertainment lawyer, cares deeply about access to justice, notes Mason. \u201cAs a lawyer, he is passionate about advocating for justice and fairness, which aligns well with the president\u2019s commitment to equity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and Julie Mason \u201993; Photo courtesy of the White House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amid the whirlwind of second-gentleman duties, Emhoff says, \u201cAs a \u2018newbie\u2019 to D.C. and politics, I\u2019m lucky to have Julie at the helm of my White House team. She not only knows the nuances of this administration but also how to get things done\u2014and she does it with a steady leadership style, positive outlook, and great sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason\u2019s close friend Karen Regan \u201993, her roommate for three years at Trinity as well as after college in Washington, D.C., concurs with Emhoff. \u201cJulie is someone you call when you want something to get done,\u201d says Regan, the assistant vice chancellor for research and innovation at the University of Colorado Boulder. \u201cJulie has always been driven toward public service. She likes to think about and solve bigger problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling the first time she visited Trinity\u2019s campus as a high school student, Mason says, \u201cI remember feeling the energy on campus and loving that it felt like a community within a city.\u201d Growing up, there were pictures of Trinity in her house since both her father, John Whittier Mason, M.D., \u201960, and uncle, Robert Mason, M.D., \u201962, are alumni.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot to be said for a school like Trinity,\u201d says Mason. \u201cA small school that builds a true community is more valuable now than ever. During the pandemic, we all felt a bit disconnected. Having a place like Trinity, where people really gather and get to know each other, makes a real difference. By the time I graduated, it felt like home, and my classmates felt like my extended family. They still do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon graduating from Trinity with a degree in Latin American studies, Mason was uncertain where her career path would lead. \u201cI\u2019m so impressed when people know exactly what they want to do,\u201d she says. \u201cI did not, but that\u2019s the beauty of a liberal arts education. For people like me, who are on a less-defined journey, being exposed to Shakespeare, economics, philosophy, gender studies\u2014it all sets the stage for whatever you do.\u201d She remembers volunteering for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) and serving as president of the campus BBBS club. \u201cAll of us in the program got to know people in the community and kind of break down barriers, which was terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason\u2019s first job after college was as an assistant teacher at a private school in McLean, Virginia. But after a year observing so many people flocking to D.C. to get involved in politics, she decided she wanted to give it a try, too. \u201cI put on my red Ann Taylor suit, printed off hard copies of my r\u00e9sum\u00e9, and began knocking on doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An Illinois native, she secured an unpaid internship with her hometown congressman, which led to a job answering phones in the office of the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joe Biden. Within six months, she landed a position assisting Mike McCurry, press secretary to President Bill Clinton, and learned the ropes of White House media relations. Next, she served as deputy press secretary to first lady Hillary Clinton. A highlight came in 1998, when Mason accompanied the first lady on a trip to Trinity, where Clinton conducted a forum on child care and toured the Trinity College Community Child Center (TC4).<\/p>\n

Between 1999 and 2009, Mason employed her strong communications and marketing skills at AOL Time Warner, the Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo, the Arizona Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. Mason took time off to raise her children before returning to D.C. to lead communications for Jill Biden during the 2012 presidential election campaign. From 2013 through 2015, Mason was director of special projects in the Office of Vice President Joe Biden before spending 5\u00bd years in leadership positions with international consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group.<\/p>\n

In her latest White House role, Mason has been struck by how much her daughter, Adele, 14, and son, Sam, 12, are interested to hear about her day at work. \u201cThe first time I was in the White House, I didn\u2019t have kids. The second time, they were young and would participate in kid-focused activities like the annual Easter Egg Roll. But now, at their schools, they\u2019re talking about world issues and national issues, topics like equity and gender, and we have conversations about civics\u2014which is great! It\u2019s fun for me to see what I\u2019m doing through their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in the administration<\/h2>\n

The Trinity Reporter<\/em> checked in with three other alumni serving in the Biden administration to ask how their Trinity experiences contributed to their career path or the work they do today.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Despres \u201988<\/strong>, B.A., history; J.D., 1996, Northeastern University School of Law
\n<\/strong>Counselor for Public Health and Science at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: <\/em>\u201cAfter Trinity, my first full-time job was working in the Soviet Union for the United States Information Agency (USIA). Having that solid education from Trinity meant that I could pivot from working for USIA to entering law school. After law school, I came back to D.C. with no preconceived notion of what I would do and just started seizing opportunities as they arose. Having a well-rounded humanities education was critical for that.\u201d
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Kendall Mitchell \u201917<\/strong>, B.A., English (concentration in creative writing), minor in Hispanic studies
\nPublic Affairs Specialist\/Press Assistant, U.S. Department of Justice: <\/em>\u201cThe English Department is one of the best departments at Trinity. It opened my mind to hearing other people\u2019s stories without bias. As a political communications professional, I have to know how to communicate an issue in a meeting with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer but also how I should communicate this issue to your grandma, who might not be fluent in English. The skills I learned from the major helped me to be a good communicator and a strong writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Maggie Thomas \u201910<\/strong>, B.S., environmental science and biology, minor in legal studies; master\u2019s in environmental management, 2015, Yale University
\nChief of Staff in the Office of Domestic Climate Policy:\u00a0 <\/em>\u201cThe Trinity Environmental Science Program is inherently interdisciplinary and nothing prepared me more for the role that I have today. If we\u2019re going to tackle the climate crisis, it needs to be a completely interdisciplinary approach. I was exposed to so much at Trinity, including the Interdisciplinary Science Program and research studying red-tailed hawks. Over time, I realized that what I really wanted to do was to make change in the world, and to do that you need to be engaged at the intersection of science and policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

These members of the Biden administration follow in the footsteps of many other Trinity alumni who, according to the college\u2019s records, have served in previous presidential administrations, including Victoria Coates \u201990, National Security Council (Donald Trump); Jonathan Asen \u201909, Office of Legislative Affairs (Barack Obama); Neil Patel \u201991, Office of the Vice President (George W. Bush); and\u00a0Charles S. Ingersoll, Jr. \u201983, Office of Presidential Personnel (Ronald Reagan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kathy Andrews Portraits by Stephen Voss \u201cWalking through the White House gates never gets old,\u201d says Julie Mason \u201993, whose third White House tour of duty began in January 2021. As deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff to the second gentleman, Mason brings invaluable experience from more than 25 years in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":7371,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7375","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018At the helm\u2019 - The Trinity Reporter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2021\/features\/at-the-helm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018At the helm\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kathy Andrews Portraits by Stephen Voss \u201cWalking through the White House gates never gets old,\u201d says Julie Mason \u201993, whose third White House tour of duty began in January 2021. 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