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Ivanka Trump Will Be The Convention's Leading Lady

Poised to take over her father's business if he is elected president, Ivanka Trump will speak at the Republican National Convention. According to Politico, the successful businesswoman will be accompanied onstage by other speakers including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, along with siblings Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Of Trump's children, Ivanka has played one of the most significant roles in the Trump campaign's transition from unrefined to "presidential."

Throughout Trump's campaign, his grown children have doubled as political advisers and confidants. Of his children, Ivanka has contributed the most balance to the campaign, effectively using her poise to counteract her father's abrasive language. During a CNN town hall meeting with Anderson Cooper, however, she characterized her father's rhetoric as intense, but necessary, saying:

So while I do sometimes tell him to withhold some of that sort of fire, I also understand it, and I think it's instinct, and I think it also speaks to his passion. And I think that's ultimately what we need. ... I don't think you can be particularly laid-back and make it through this whole experience from what I've observed, especially when you're competing against many very qualified people who are quite upset by the fact that you've logged past them.
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Aside from her blooming political career, Ivanka has made a name for herself in the fashion, modeling, and real-estate industries. As executive vice president of development and acquisitions for the Trump organization, she's allowed to handle the company's most important real-estate deals. She is also a member of the Board of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, which seeks to empower women in the financial world, and has her own line of purses and shoes.

Pregnant with her third child, she's stuck with her father every step of the way on the campaign trail. In fact, she may have been the reason Trump ultimately fired former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in an effort to appeal to more voters in preparation for the general election. Ultimately, Trump's decision to let his manager go could have saved him from becoming the subject of even greater controversy.

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In an interview with the Daily Beast's Tim Teeman, Ivanka said that although she's not currently considering a political career, heading a campaign of her own in the future isn't out of the question:

It’s not something I’ve ever been inclined to do, but I’m 34, so who knows? At this point I would never even contemplate it, but that doesn’t mean that when I’m 50 I won’t have a change of heart.

With her experience in business, public speaking, and most recently politics, it's certainly a possibility.