White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers is stepping down next month. Nice lady, Classy, Effective public servant. Sad to see her leave
“As we turn the corner on the first year,” Rogers told Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, “this is a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world.”
A source close to Rogers tells Huffington Post that another factor in her upcoming departure may be mounting tension with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. “Desiree has had enough and will leave because she’s butting heads with Valerie,” says the source.
Rogers, who has an MBA from Harvard, worked at Allstate Financial before she was appointed to Social Secretary in December 2008. She is a good friend of the Obamas.
She also told Lynn Sweet “When I took on this assignment, we talked about the importance of creating the people’s house….I think I completed that work.”
Her public image suffered after the Salahi/state dinner debacle.
“It’s been a tremendous experience and honor to serve this president and first lady in what is really a historic presidency for all Americans but particularly for African-Americans,” Rogers tells NYT’s The Caucus. “That is part of the reason I came out to do the job.”
Rogers is the first African-American to hold the position of White House Social Secretary.
She also told The Caucus that she had made the decision to resign in January after asking herself “What is going to make me the happiest?”, and had not intended to make the announcement for some time. The news, however, leaked on Friday.
