Former Birmingham resident Kamau Marshall has joined the Joe Biden administration’s communications team as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Media and Public Affairs, Al.com reported. He previously served as a Spokesperson and Senior Advisor for outreach and communications to the CEO and Co-Chairs for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Committee. Most recently, Kamau was the Director of Strategic Communications for the 2020 Biden presidential campaign.
Marshall moved to Alabama as a youth, moving from Pittsburgh to Birmingham. “They’re not that far apart culturally,” Marshall told AL.com. “Both are blue-collar cities with strong Black communities; both are steel mill towns. I was very excited as a young child moving, mainly due to the civil rights aspects and its history,” he added. “Yes, I was that child—very excited about moving to Birmingham.”
Marshall also served in the Obama-Biden Administration as the Communications Advisor and Speechwriter at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was a special assistant to the late Congressman Elijah E. Cummings.
“It’s exciting to serve this president and vice president at this time,” said Marshall, who lived in Midfield, Fairfield, and Ensley. “There’s a strong focus on economics and trade—things a lot of people don’t think about regarding how they relate to their day-to-day lives. Economics and trade are how the world goes.”
A graduate of Texas Southern University, he considers himself a native of many cities and states, and while his brothers graduated from Wenona High School, they moved to Georgia before he was able to attend.
“I loved my time in Birmingham; it played a critical role in my life,” he says. “It’s part of my foundation, especially for a person who previously lived up north—providing a solid sense of community and southern living. Southern manners can take you far.”
Marshall’s mother was an Alabama native, and he still has relatives in Alabama—in Tuscaloosa and Huntsville.
“It’s really like we never left,” he said.
