Desirée Rogers to be White House Social Secretary

If you want to get on the list to go to a White House state dinner, a holiday party, a Kwanzaa celebration, or any other social function in the residence of the nation's executive mansion, you might want to meet Desirée Rogers.

Rogers will be the new White House social secretary, the person in charge of planning all White House events. The 49-year-old Chicago businesswoman will be the first African American to hold that position, and she's already expecting a lot of business.

"It will probably be overwhelming, initially," she told the Chicago Tribune. Given the excitement generated around Obama's historic election, Rogers expects a lot of people will "want to get into the White House and want to be a part of all this."

Along with the new First Lady, the social secretary can help to set the tone for the White House. Will it be open and welcoming or more closed off? Will people of color be more visible at social functions? Will Oprah be on the guest list at the first big dinner? And can we expect more African American functions, like Black History Month events or Kwanzaa celebrations?

Rogers, who graduated from Wellesley College and Harvard Business School, may not be your typical social secretary. She served as president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, a $2 billion utility company in Chicago, and is a former director of the Illinois Lottery. Most recently, she worked for Allstate Financial.

"This appointment sends a strong message that the Obamas want to use the White House strategically, to maximize its use in a way that is consistent with their philosophy -- [to] open it to a broader range of people, " incoming White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told the Washington Post.

Once married to millionaire Chicago financier John Rogers, Desirée Rogers has one child, an 18-year-old daughter currently studying at Yale. As a close friend of the Obamas, she's probably already been hit up for invitations to events. But now that she will be running the events, she might have to change her phone number.

If you don't make the invitation list right away, Rogers offers some advice. "We're not going to be able to have everyone there in the first year," she told the Tribune. "People are going to have to be a little patient with us."

(Front photo by Stephen J. Serio)