Ellie Kendrickson

**Elizabeth Eleanora** "**Ellie**" **Kendrickson** (born January 16, 1992) is an American lawyer, journalist, and media personality. She is the daughter of current President of the United States John Kendrickson and his wife Lisa Marie Kendrickson.

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Kendrickson and her family moved to Washington, D.C. when she was 13 due to her father being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After graduating from Sidwell Friends School in 2010, Kendrickson enrolled in New York University and moved to New York City. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2014, and received a juris doctor from Columbia Law School in 2017. Outside of law, Kendrickson has also established herself as a journalist and media personality. She has worked as a freelance journalist covering politics, writing for publications such as *The New York Times*, *The Hill*, and *Forbes*. She has appeared as a guest correspondent on NBC, beginning in 2017.

## Early life and education

### Family

Kendrickson was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan to lawyers John Kendrickson (born March 12, 1961) and Lisa Marie Kendrickson (née Bartholomew; born June 11, 1963). John and Lisa Marie first met in 1985 while they were both law students at University of Michigan Law School. They began dating, and were later married in 1989. They had two children together; Elizabeth Eleanora "Ellie", and Eric Joshua.

John was born to a middle-class family in suburban Neenah, Wisconsin. His father, Thomas Kendrickson (1927–2011), worked as a tailor, while his mother, Mary Kendrickson (née Magnussen; 1932–), was a housewife. John was of English paternal ancestry, while his mother's parents were born in Norway and Sweden. Thomas was an irreligious Protestant, while Mary was a Lutheran. John was raised in Mary's Lutheran faith. Kendrickson's aunt, Ella Martinsen (1959–), resides in Chicago and works as a marketing executive. John graduated from Neenah High School in 1979, and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in 1983 from Northwestern University, and a juris doctor in 1986 from University of Michigan Law School. He went on to practice constitutional law in Ann Arbor for several years, before becoming a law professor at University of Michigan Law School.

Lisa Marie was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Holland, Michigan. Her father, Henry Bartholomew (né Heinrich Barenboim; 1930–1997), was born in Germany and later raised in Brooklyn, New York. He received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1952, and later moved to Michigan, where he received a law degree from University of Michigan Law School. Her mother, Alma Bartholomew (née Reichmann) was born in Detroit and came from a wealthy family of Hungarian-Jewish, Polish-Jewish, and Romanian-Jewish heritage. Henry and Alma began dating in 1956, and later married in 1958. Their three children; Dennis Alexander, Lisa Marie, and Hilda May, were raised in a waterfront mansion in Holland, and attended the elite coeducational college preparatory boarding school Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois. After graduating from high school in 1981, Lisa Marie moved to New York City to attend Barnard College, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1985. She later returned to Michigan to begin studying law at University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1988. After her graduation, she began working as a corporate attorney at firms in Ann Arbor and Detroit.

### Education

Kendrickson first began her education at the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, beginning pre-kindergarten in 1996. In 2004, her father was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the family had to move to Washington, D.C. for most of the year. After completing seventh grade in Ann Arbor living with her mother and brother, her and the entire family moved to the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where Kendrickson and her brother enrolled in Sidwell Friends School. She graduated from high school in 2010, shortly before the family returned to Michigan due to her father's election as Governor of Michigan.

After graduating from high school, Kendrickson moved to New York City where she began studying politics at New York University. She was later admitted to the honors program and switched her primary focus to international relations. Kendrickson graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2014. While a university student, she studied for a semester abroad in Prague. Kendrickson later enrolled in Columbia Law School, where she graduated with a juris doctor in 2017. She will take the New York Bar Exam in July 2017.

## Career

Kendrickson first began her professional journalism career in 2015, writing a political piece for *The New York Times*. Kendrickson went on to write a number of political editorials for the publication. She has also written political editorials for *The Hill* and *Forbes*. In 2016, Kendrickson revealed that she was enjoying working as a freelance journalist "on the side". In 2017, she accepted an on-air position as a guest correspondent for NBC, occasionally commenting on politics. Kendrickson has stated that after passing the bar exam, she aspires to work primarily as a lawyer and does not wish to pursue a career as a television personality. She aspires to work in civil rights or constitutional law.

## Personal life

Kendrickson was raised in both the Lutheran and Jewish faiths. Regarding her own religion, Kendrickson has stated, "I always had a good balance of the two growing up, but I never felt particularly connected to either religiously. I call myself a Jew because I see it as more of a culture than a religion. I'm proud of my Jewish culture, but I'm not a particularly religious person. As for Christianity, I don't think it's for me".

Kendrickson moved to New York City in 2010 to attend New York University. She resided in a university residence hall for her first year, and later moved into an apartment in the Greenwich Village neighborhood with two friends for the following three years. While living in Prague, she resided in university housing. Since enrolling at Columbia Law School, Kendrickson has resided in an apartment on the Upper West Side. She has spoken about how she's happy that she wasn't forced to grow up in the spotlight, stating, "I've seen many children of presidents who grew up in the White House. I'm happy I never had to deal with that, I've never even lived there. I had as normal a childhood as possible, so I'm really thankful my family didn't enter the public eye until I was an adult".