Just minutes after signing off from her Sunday program ‘Inside with Jen Psaki,’ MSNBC hosted a toast to Jen Psaki to mark the release of her upcoming book, “Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World.”
Steps away from the NBC News Washington Bureau, MSNBC’s Rebecca Kutler welcomed the crowd at L’Ardente, saying “‘Say More’ is an opportunity for Jen to share her invaluable wisdom with the world … Jen makes it look easy, a few years ago she walks out of the White House and now has a hit program. But I think we all know that what Jen has done in the last two years is actually quite difficult. See Jen left a job speaking for a president and a country. That requires laser focused discipline and you often need to suppress your personal point of view and personality. Then she arrives at MSNBC, where the media requires the exact opposite, we ask you to be fully yourself.”
Kutler added, “If the audience can see this person for all of who she is, not just that Psaki Bomb from behind a podium, but the full human that stands before us today, then success will follow.”
Psaki then thanked attendees, adding “You learn a lot when you’re pushed to the edge and so I have so much gratitude for so many people I’ve worked with as colleagues, the people in the room that I’ve battled with, the people in this room who I’ve learned from … What I hope readers take away is a confidence that everybody can be a better communicator. I think as we all know, including people in here who are reporters, journalists, have television shows or what have you, is that you learn things not just from preparing to host a TV show or a briefing on a podium. You learn them from your kids, from your family, from your friends. And this book is about a lot of that too and things that I wish I frankly knew when I was in my early 20s.”
The Sunday afternoon affair kicked off Psaki’s book release week, available Tuesday, May 7. This week, Psaki is slated to appear on TODAY, The View, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and across MSNBC discussing the book. You can also watch Psaki on “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Mondays at 8pm ET and Sundays at 12pm ET on MSNBC.
Notable guests included Psaki’s successor White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Senior Advisor to the President of the United States Anita Dunn, and many more.
Photography by: MSNBC PR
