NYT Profiles Philly-bred White House Social Planner

Deesha Dyer | WhiteHouse.gov

The New York Times has a profile of Philly-bred Deesha Dyer, the new White House social secretary, on the eve of a make-or-break week: She’s in charge of planning for President Obama to welcome both Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping in separate events this week.

Dyer grew up in West Philadelphia and went to Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pa., the boarding school for underprivileged students. She was a hip-hop columnist for Philadelphia City Paper before moving to bigger and better things. (The Times says her “résumé is a big departure from those of previous White House social secretaries.”) This week might be the biggest, however:

“We’ve never had anything like this before,” said Jessica Andrews, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s chief of protocol. “It’s the Super Bowl of Super Bowls.”