Skip to main content
Women We Should Know Podcast2022

Ep. 84 | Roe vs Wade

By November 18, 2022No Comments

Insights of Mighty Women

“The word woman is not in the Constitution”

– Karen Hinton

 

Mississippi native Karen Hinton is a nationally-recognized media professional in Washington and New York. Best known for her role as press secretary to both former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hinton played what Politico dubbed the “Helen of Troy role” in the clash between Cuomo, now the former Governor of New York, and Mayor de Blasio. The New York Times called the clash “one of America’s ugliest political feuds.”

Hinton cut her teeth as the press secretary for the first Black Congressman from Mississippi since Reconstruction in 1986. The Democratic National Committee hired her in 1989, serving a similar role for Ron Brown, who was the first Black Chairman of the DNC and a key political strategist to elect Bill Clinton as President. In 1995, Hinton joined the Clinton Administration as press secretary for Cuomo at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. During that time, President Clinton began to face charges of womanizing (and worse). Hinton later relocated to New York and became Mayor de Blasio’s press secretary. She found herself at the center of the crossfire between longtime frenemies Cuomo and de Blasio, often becoming the subject of news coverage herself.

Known for never ducking from a fight, Hinton was at the peak of her career when a catastrophic brain injury from a freak accident confronted her with the battle of her life. Emerging from a coma, and learning to walk and talk again, Hinton was determined to “speak up not shut up” on issues involving women, men, and power in politics.

Connect with Karen Hinton on her various platforms: