Ivanka is the powerful daughter of President elect Donald Trump. Throughout her father’s campaign, Ivanka found herself being used more and more to get across Trump’s political message. A profile in Vanity Fair recently described her as a “proxy wife”, saying this was in part due to the fact that Donald’s current wife, Melania, is not a “conventional campaign spouse”.
The Trump campaign appears more comfortable using the candidate’s daughter to spread his message than his wife,” the magazine said. Quartz suggested that Ivanka would serve as Donald’s “actual first lady”.
Ivanka was raised Presbyterian but converted to Judaism in 2009 to marry husband Jared Kushner. The couple have three children: Arabella Rose, five, Joseph Frederick Kushner, three in October, and five-month-old Theodore James.
She told Vogue last year that the family are kosher and observe the Sabbath, turning off their phones to enjoy time together. “We don’t do anything except play with each other, hang out with one another, go on walks together – pure family,” she said. Ivanka described herself as a “very modern”, but also “a very traditional person”, adding that her conversion was “a great life decision”.
One Trump campaign insider told the New York Times that Ivanka is “one of a few people who can influence [his] thinking”, highlighting the way she successfully convinced her father to maintain his qualified support for Planned Parenthood in the face of staunch Republican criticism.
The 34-year-old mother of three, whom her father regularly calls his “favourite”, has been given unparalleled levels of authority in the family business. She has even launched her own namesake brand, Ivanka Trump, selling shoes, clothing and handbags.
Speaking at the Republican National Convention this summer, she appealed to women and younger voters with policy proposals such as such as equal pay – rarely touted by her father on the campaign trail.
“American families need relief,” she told the packed convention arena in Cleveland, Ohio. “Policies that allow women with children to thrive should not be novelties they should be the norm.”
