Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton: 2 women who could be America's next first daughter

Presidential nominees' daughters Ivanka Trump (left) and Chelsea Clinton. PHOTOS: AFP

PHILADELPHIA - Ms Chelsea Clinton took the stage to introduce her mother, Mrs Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party's convention in Philadelphia on Thursday (July 28).

The 36-year-old's appearance on Thursday came a week after her counterpart Ivanka Trump, 34, made a similar appeal for her father, Republican nominee Donald Trump, at the GOP convention in Cleveland.

Here is a closer look at America's two potential first daughters.

FRIENDSHIP

Despite being on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, both candidates' children are friends, a relationship they struck up before their parents launched campaigns for the White House.

According to the Politico news website, the two were introduced to each other a few years ago by their husbands and immediately hit it off.

Media reports said they ran in the same circles in New York. Chelsea attended Ivanka's wedding in 2009, while her mother sat in the front row at the elder Trump's wedding to Melania in 2005. Ivanka even donated money to Mrs Clinton's 2008 presidential bid.

In public, the two women have also appeared at ease with each other. Both posed for photographs, flashing bright smiles and a hug when they showed up at the red carpet of the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in 2014.

With their parents going head-to-head for the presidency, however, it appears their friendship has come under pressure. Sources close to the two women told Politico in March they had chosen to no longer appear in public together during the election.

For now, the two remain conciliatory in their remarks about each other and the public may still be able to expect a future joint appearance - one that Chelsea has proposed in a bid to address the heated exchanges by both sides in the election campaign.

Ivanka told People magazine in a July 23 interview that the two women remain "friendly", even as she conceded that "there's certainly tremendous intensity around both of our lives right now".

Similarly, Chelsea told the Today show in an interview aired on Thursday that she still considered Ivanka a pal, despite the battle between their parents.

"Clearly, Ivanka and I have very different views about who we think should be our president, who we think best represents our country," she said.

EDUCATION AND CAREER

Both women have been in the public eye from a young age, with Chelsea - the Clintons' only child - thrust into the global spotlight when her father was president of the United States.

Young heiress Ivanka, Trump's eldest daughter, was never far from the spotlight either, and was often pictured at high society events with her father.

Both went to elite schools for their degrees: Ivanka attended Georgetown before transferring to University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, where she graduated with a bachelor of science in economics.

Meanwhile, Chelsea graduated from Stanford with a degree in history. She has also received a master's degree from Oxford University, a second master's from Columbia University School of Public Health and a PhD in international relations from Oxford.

Chelsea has worked at global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co and later Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund management firm.

Despite her media-shy reputation, she was previously a special correspondent for NBC News. She now works at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Ivanka is a former model turned businesswoman. She made Maxim magazine's Hot 100 women in 2007 and also works in her father's real estate firm, where her title is executive vice-president of development & acquisitions.

She also has her own jewellery line, the Ivanka Trump Collection.

FAMILY

Chelsea is married to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky and the couple have two children.

Chelsea Clinton and her husband Marc Mezvinsky at the Democratic National Convention on July 28, 2016, in Philadelphia. PHOTO: AFP

Ivanka is married to American businessman and real-estate developer Jared Kushner, who comes from a well-known Democratic family. He and his wife have hosted fundraisers for candidates of both political parties. The couple have three children.

CAMPAIGN APPEARANCES

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (left) is introduced by her daughter Chelsea Clinton at a campaign rally n Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Jan 31, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

Chelsea occupies a unique place in history as the only person to have both parents run for president.

She took a low profile after her father left office in 2001. After her mother's presidential bid, she re-entered public life to hit the campaign trail, endearing herself to supporters with stories of Mrs Clinton as a mother and grandmother.

As always, her appearances have always been carefully managed. So far, she has mainly spoken of how becoming a mother has underscored for her the importance of making the right choices in the election campaign.

Ivanka has also helped her father to soften his image. Since he first announced his bid for president with her beside him, Ivanka has played the most visible role among his children.

She was a frequent presence by her father's side this year in places such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina during the voting contests in those states, even though she was heavily pregnant at the time.

A large part of her growing celebrity stems from her public focus on the balance of work and family life. Her youngest is only four months old and she often posts pictures of her kids on social media while working on multi-million-dollar real estate deals.

CONVENTION SPEECHES

Chelsea Clinton pauses while speaking during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, on July 28, 2016. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

In her speech on Thursday, Chelsea painted an intimate portrait of her mother, telling the Democratic convention she was "wonderful, thoughtful" and "hilarious". Looking to counter the perception of the nominee as driven and career-obsessed, she said her mother was a compassionate woman who always cared for others.

"She's a woman driven by compassion, by faith, by a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love," she said.

Chelsea spoke in strikingly personal terms about how her mother was intensely involved in her childhood, from soccer games to church on Sunday. She vowed to voters that she would be there for them as well.

"I am voting for a woman who has spent her entire life fighting for families and children," she said. "I'm voting for a woman who knows that women's rights are human rights and who knows LGBT rights are human rights... I'm voting for a fighter who never, ever gives up and believes that we can always do better, if we come together and work together."

Ivanka spoke at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week, depicting the New York businessman as "color-blind and gender-neutral" to counter critics who have called his comments about immigrants and women bigoted and callous.

Ivanka Trump waves to the crowd at the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. PHOTO: AFP

"My father values talent," she told the audience. "He recognises real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is colourblind and gender-neutral. He hires the best person for the job, period."

She also made a personal appeal to women voters, describing her father "as a fighter" for the nation and women.

"At our family's company, there are more female than male executives," Ivanka said. "Women are paid equally for the work that we do and, when a woman becomes a mother, she is supported - not shut out."

She added that her father hired women for key jobs "long before it was commonplace".

Sources: Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Washington Post, People magazine, Politico, New York Times

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