Once the White House spokeswoman, Jane Saki, announced that Samira Vasily would accompany her at the daily press briefing, many questioned her before she disclosed her capacity as deputy director of the National Economic Council.
Sky News reported, Friday morning, that Samira Vazili appeared in an able manner, talking about the plans of President Joe Biden’s administration, to support and save the economy, and small projects suffering due to the Corona pandemic, and respond to journalists’ questions with full length and confidence.
Five weeks ago the White House was occupied by White Supremacists. Today a woman in a Hijab gave a briefing from a White House podium. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. This is Sameera Fazili, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. https://t.co/FHaNqcSQ9a
— Ayaz (@sahyder1) February 24, 2021
The agency confirmed that Vasily is a lawyer and a specialist in social sciences, her parents, two doctors, Muhammad Yusuf Vasili, and Vasily’s companion, emigrated in the seventies of the last century from the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan to the United States, and she graduated from the most prestigious universities.
She obtained a BA in Social Sciences from Harvard College with Distinction, then obtained a PhD in Law from Yale Law School, to begin her career as a lecturer in the Economic and Social Development Unit of the same college.
Samira Vasily joined the US Treasury to work on issues related to crowdfunding institutions, housing finance and small businesses, and was also a Senior Counsel and Chief of Staff of the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.
She then joined former President Barack Obama’s administration as Senior Policy Adviser at the National Economic Council, covering retirement, finance, and socio-economic development, and then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she held the position of Director of the Federal Reserve Bank there.
A proud moment.
Sameera Fazili, the first American Muslim woman to breif the press at White House. She is the deputy director of the National Economic Council.
I hope the French government learn a lesson in democracy and respecting diversity.#hijabhttps://t.co/ARLxj6zMi7— Nihad Awad (@NihadAwad) February 24, 2021
Vasily is one of 20 employees in the Biden administration who have their origins in Kashmir or India, where her interest as deputy director of the National Economic Council is focused on industrialization, innovation and domestic competition, and the council works on setting economic policy for the country and advising the American president.
The appearance of Samira Vasily met with great interaction in the media, especially since she does not occupy a symbolic position in the American administration, and the echo of her appearance reached the Kashmir region from which she hails, where her uncle Rauf Vasily expressed the family’s joy in her, stressing that the entire region is proud of the positions held by his niece .
Although Samira was not born in Kashmir, her connection with the region is strong according to her family, as she made sure to visit him several times, although her visits decreased in recent years due to her preoccupation with her career and her family consisting of a husband and 3 children.