The Rise and Fall of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff
Just a week after the January 20, 2017 inauguration of President Donald Trump, America’s new First Lady, Melania Trump, announced her first hire.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a New York social fixture, event planner, and former Vogue staffer, was brought on as an unpaid advisor to Mrs. Trump, a role which took precedence over traditionally crucial team members such as a chief of staff or social secretary.
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Almost always described as a “longtime friend of the First Lady,” Wolkoff was also one of the key planners for Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, and her responsibilities included securing venues and subcontracting out to New York society event planner David Monn.
Her involvement in the inauguration, however, ultimately landed her in hot water.
In late February of this year, The New York Times revealed that WIS Media Partners,
a company Wolkoff had started about six weeks before the inauguration, was paid $25.8 million by the president's inaugural committee for its role in planning the event; they were the largest single vendor.
These numbers made headlines because the Trump committee had raised $106.8 million, roughly twice as much as Barack Obama's 2009 committee, and IRS filings showed it spent most of the money on events that were scaled back significantly from past years.
A source told the Times that Wolkoff personally received $1.62 million for her work.
Wolkoff told the paper her firm earned that amount "for all of its consulting and creative services, which was divided among our staff of 15 members (including myself).”
In the wake of the Times story, the First Lady's office publicly announced that it would no longer be working with Wolkoff.
While multiple sources told the paper that the move was specifically prompted by displeasure from the Trumps over the news that Wolkoff’s firm took such a hefty payday, Wolkoff herself rebuts this.