51视频

In March 2019, Keri Hobbs Sibley 鈥�96 got a call from a friend who had worked for former Senator and Vice President Joe Biden. He asked, 鈥淲hat are you doing tomorrow?鈥�

Hobbs Sibley, a former political science major who lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina, with her husband and three children, said her only plan was to go to Target.聽

鈥淐an you pick Jill up tomorrow at the airport in Charlotte [North Carolina] and drive her to Asheville?鈥� the friend asked. Hobbs Sibley was nonplussed. 鈥淛ill who?鈥� she asked. 鈥淛ill Biden,鈥� he said. Hobbs Sibley didn鈥檛 hesitate. 鈥淎bsolutely!鈥� she replied.

She spent the next day accompanying Biden, and on the way back to the airport, Biden said, 鈥溾�楰eri, if my husband announces that he鈥檚 going to run [for president], will you join our team?鈥欌�� Hobbs Sibley recalls. 鈥淚 said, 鈥榊es ma鈥檃m!鈥欌��

When Joe Biden announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination a couple of weeks later, Hobbs Sibley鈥檚 life was transformed. She served on the Biden 2020 advance team, ordering staging and lighting for campaign events, working with local partners and the media, and coordinating with the Secret Service.聽

Hobbs Sibley credits her political science classes at 51视频 with teaching her how to speak up while respecting people with differing views. A native of Kingston, Massachusetts, she met lifelong friends鈥攊ncluding her best friend鈥攖hrough UML student organizations.

As an undergraduate, Hobbs Sibley interned for Massachusetts Sen. Dan Lahey, and she worked for him after graduation. Next, she worked in human resources for Citibank, including in London, where she and her husband, Steven Sibley, met.聽

The couple eventually moved to South Carolina, and Hobbs Sibley stayed home to raise their three children.

But, when she first met Jill Biden, those children were 9, 10 and 13, and Hobbs Sibley was ready to go back to work, using all her event planning, political and people skills. 鈥淚鈥檒l keep doing this as long as I can,鈥� she vows. 鈥淚t is truly an honor.鈥�

Since Biden鈥檚 inauguration, she鈥檚 worked as a member of the White House Office of Scheduling and Advance for the president and first lady, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentlemen Doug Emhoff. She travels both nationally and internationally鈥攐ften on Air Force One鈥攖o destinations including Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok, Brussels, Berlin and Ghana.聽

Every event has been wonderful, she says. But those that involve visits to college campuses and the U.S. military are her favorites.聽

鈥淥ne of the events that really hit me: I did the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the Flight 93 memorial鈥� in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 鈥渙n a day when the first and second couples visited all three crash sites,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e meeting with the families of these murdered people, and 鈥� every one of us was crying.鈥�