Fil-Am appointed White House Assistant Press Secretary

After waves upon waves of massive controversies that surrounded the first few days of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States, it was nice to know and to celebrate a small achievement of a fellow Filipino at such a grand stage.

Ninio Fetalvo, a 23 year-old Filipino-American, is now the appointed Assistant Press Secretary handling issues that pertains to labor, education, transportation, veteran affairs and education in the highly contentious Trump administration.

Fetalvo previously served as the Asian Pacific American press secretary for the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Florida Communications Director, and as the Deputy Director for Media Affairs of the 2016 Republican National Convention among others.

Fetalvo will work alongside three other assistant press secretaries who will then work under three deputy press secretaries who reports to Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Fetalvo’s former boss at the RNC and the one who requested him to be his assistant.

Prior to his key role in the White House, he was also a part of the Presidential Inaugural Committee serving as the Deputy Director of Strategic Media which handled the media operations for the historic inauguration of President Trump.

“It’s truly a very humbling experience. It’s a real honor to work on behalf of our country and the American people. I’m really excited to see what President Trump and Vice President [Mike] Pence accomplish to truly make the country great again,” he said in an interview. “Being at this position in the White House really excites me to just be able to help communicate and emphasize the policies that [are] really going to make our community better and more prosperous.”

Fetalvo was born on May 1, 1993, in Fort Myers, Florida to Filipino parents Nelson Fetalvo, a technician for Acura automotive, and Minerva Fetalvo, a registered nurse who emigrated from Bicol, Philippines. Fetalvo went on to George Washington University in Washington, DC after high school where he majored in political communication with future plans to eventually become an attorney, but during his senior year he got an internship with the RNC and he realized that he wanted to pursue a career in politics.

Though he was not raised up under strongly political parents, Fetalvo was taught about the importance of having a voice in the political process and aside from the Republican party’s values of self-reliance and individual responsibility, Fetalvo said that his parents’ coming to the U.S. — where they didn’t know anybody — and building a life for themselves plus his Filipino-American upbringing was the inspiration that led him to becoming a Republican.
And as a young and bright-eyed Republican, Ninio Fetalvo firmly believes that the Trump administration will serve the American people, including the Fil-Am community, well and with distinction.