Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (born Batinkoff, January 21, 1971) is an American fashion and entertainment executive and former senior advisor to the first lady Melania Trump. Before her controversial role in politics, she produced various notable events in New York City, including the

Met Gala The Met Gala, or Met Ball, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It is popularly ...

, and later worked as the founding fashion director for

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

and facilitated the expansion of its Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Early life

Wolkoff was born to parents Barbara (née Carnel) and Barry Batinkoff and raised in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

. Her family is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Wolkoff is the sister of actor

Randall Batinkoff Randall Matthew Batinkoff (born October 16, 1968) is an American actor, known for his roles in the films '' For Keeps'', '' School Ties'', and ''Higher Learning''. Early life and education Batinkoff was born in Monticello, New York, the son of Ba ...

. She attended Fordham University, where she played

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

basketball as a power forward for two years. She then transferred to Loyola University New Orleans where she graduated with a degree in communications.

Career

Her first job was as a lobbyist for

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

, and she later worked as an assistant to New York concert promoter Ron Delsener. In 1996, Wolkoff started working for ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' magazine as a public relations manager, where she helped organize events such as the VH1 Fashion Awards and the

. After briefly resigning in 2010, she was rehired by

Anna Wintour Dame Anna Wintour (; born 3 November 1949) is a British journalist based in New York City who has served as editor-in-Chief of ''Vogue'' since 1988 and Global Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast since 2020; she is also the artistic directo ...

, who installed Wolkoff as fashion director for

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

. She met Melania Knauss, then Donald Trump's girlfriend, in 2003 while working for ''Vogue'', and the two became friends. She attended the Trump wedding and Melania's baby shower, and they lunched together regularly. She says Melania was like "the sister I never had before".

Role in the Trump administration

In 2016, Wolkoff created an event planning firm, WIS Media Partners, which was instrumental in organizing the

Inauguration of Donald Trump The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Donald Trump's term as president and Mike Pence as vice president. An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people attended the public ceremony hel ...

in January 2017. Wolkoff's firm was paid $26 million for their services: about one-quarter of the total expenses of the inauguration. According to a tax filing, most of the money went to other vendors and a dozen staff members. Early in the Trump administration, Wolkoff was named an unpaid senior advisor to first lady

Melania Trump Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...

. Melania Trump cut ties with Wolkoff on February 26, 2018. Wolkoff resigned that month, after the extent of her firm's compensation for organizing the inaugural festivities was reported. She says she was "scapegoated" and that only $1.6 million of the $26 million went to her personally.

''Melania and Me''

In 2020, Wolkoff published a book, '' Melania and Me,'' described as a "tell-all" about her tragic experiences in the White House with Donald Trump and Melania Trump. The book contains extensive direct quotes from Melania Trump; when asked how that was possible, Wolkoff explained that after her relations with the first lady soured, she began recording conversations. The Trump Justice Department filed a civil suit against Wolkoff in October 2019, alleging breach of a

nondisclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

, which the Biden Justice Department dropped in February 2021.

Personal life

After her parents' divorce, she was adopted by her mother's second husband, Bruce Winston, the son of jeweler

Harry Winston Harry Winston (March 1, 1896December 8, 1978) was an American jeweler. He donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade. He also traded the Portuguese Diamond to the Smithsonian in 1963 in exchan ...

. Wolkoff met her husband, real estate developer David Wolkoff, in 1996 and they married in March 2000. They have three children.

Bibliography

*'' Melania and Me'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolkoff, Stephanie 1970 births Living people 20th-century American Jews American fashion businesspeople American memoirists Businesspeople from New York (state) 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople Trump administration personnel Women government officials Fordham University alumni Loyola University New Orleans alumni 21st-century American Jews