The White House Was My Workplace—and Part of my Son’s Childhood. No One Made Me Choose Between Motherhood and Service.

By Sonny Joy Nelson

A few weeks before I left the White House, my two-year-old son, Isaiah, stood beside me on the South Lawn as Marine One prepared to lift off. President Trump was taking questions as cameras rolled. 

But Isaiah had only one thing on his mind.

“Can I give the President a high-five?”

The high-five had to wait. But that moment will stay with me forever.

Working for the most pro-life president of my lifetime carried an extra layer of reverence for me because of my own story. When my mom became pregnant and unmarried in her early 20s, she was heavily pressured to have an abortion with me. Instead, she courageously chose life.

She later dedicated herself to fighting for the pre-born, a conviction she instilled in me.

President Trump’s pro-life policies first drew me to him, and fresh out of college, I earned a spot on his 2020 campaign. Years later, it still amazes me how God redeemed the story of my conception and placed me inside the White House.

For nearly 17 months, I served as Director of Media Affairs and Special Assistant to the President. It was the professional honor of my life. But perhaps the most meaningful part was discovering that I did not have to choose between being a mother and serving my country.

Life was far from simple. My husband, Sam, and I lived apart for nearly a year while I pursued my White House dream, and he continued his career in the military. For a season, I carried the day-to-day weight of raising a toddler while navigating one of the most demanding communications jobs in the country.

There were days when childcare fell through, when I was exhausted before sunrise, when I wondered whether I could possibly give enough to my son and enough to the job. Not every workplace makes room for both.

Mine did.

Then came Isaiah’s second birthday.

I had no childcare that day, so I brought him to my office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. I worried it would feel like a mom-fail: a little boy spending his birthday at work. 

To my surprise, my coworkers greeted him with balloons, cake, decorations, and a birthday sign. They made sure he felt celebrated. In that moment, they reminded me that motherhood was not something to quietly manage behind the scenes. It was something worthy to be celebrated in all spaces.

That was the culture I experienced every day.

Isaiah spent holidays on the White House grounds: Easter Egg Rolls, Fourth of July celebrations, Halloween in a Hulk costume, Christmas tours, and ordinary Wednesdays when we both just needed a little more time together.

Every time we pulled into the Ellipse, he would proudly say, “This is where Mommy works. Mommy works at the White House with President Trump!”

Once, Isaiah nearly ran straight into Secretary Marco Rubio, who smiled at me and said, “You have your hands full.”

He was right. And thankfully, my village was right there with me.

That village looked like coworkers helping carry a stroller to my car, staffers greeting Isaiah with smiles, Karoline Leavitt proving motherhood and high-pressure leadership are not mutually exclusive, and Susie Wiles serving as chief of staff with toughness, wisdom, and grace.

President Trump’s White House did not ask me to hide motherhood. It welcomed it. It valued it. It strengthened me.

I am carrying those lessons into my next chapter.

As I prepare to welcome my second baby boy this fall, I am also launching a media relations and public affairs firm. The same instincts that guided me through the 2024 campaign and the last 17 months of intense press cycles are the instincts I now bring to every client I serve.

To President Trump, to my colleagues, and to every person who made room in those famous hallways for a little boy in a Hulk costume, thank you. Serving alongside all of you has been the honor of a lifetime.

I came to Washington to serve a president and a country that I love.

I leave knowing my son watched his mother work hard, serve boldly, and never once apologize for being his mom.

Sonny Joy Nelson is the former Director of Media Affairs and Special Assistant to President Donald J. Trump and founder of Cornerstone Strategics, a media relations and public affairs firm.