Symone Sanders has been named chief spokesperson and a senior advisor for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The position: Speaks on behalf of the vice president with the media.
Symone D. Sanders was born in 1989 and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska.
Her father, Daniel Sanders, is retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Her mother, Terri Sanders, is the former publisher of the Omaha Star and former executive director for the Great Plains Black History Museum.
She attended Sacred Heart Catholic School (Nebraska).
As a child, Sanders wanted to grow up to host her own television show. She used to walk around the house acting as Donna Burns, an imaginary television host.
Her first job was working at Time Out Foods in Omaha, a Black-owned restaurant.
She graduated from Mercy High School.
Sanders attended Creighton University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. While in college, she interned at a law firm, which helped her realize that she did not want to work in law.
Sanders worked in the communications department of former Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle and was deputy communications director for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chuck Hassebrook in 2014.
Sanders joined the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign in August 2015 as the national press secretary; she left in 2016.
In December, Fusion listed Sanders as one of 30 women under 30 who would shape the 2016 election.
She joined CNN as an analyst and commentator later that year.
That same year, Sanders was recognized as one of 16 Young Americans Shaping the 2016 Election by Rolling Stone magazine.
She joined the presidential campaign of former vice president Joe Biden.
In 2020, she published a memoir, No, You Shut Up.
On November 29, 2020, Sanders was named chief spokesperson and a senior advisor for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Her partner is Shawn Townsend. They live in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C.