Juli Ellyn Briskman ( Klyce; born March 16, 1967) is an American politician, marketing analyst, and journalist. She is a

supervisor A supervisor, or lead, (also known as foreman, boss, overseer, facilitator, monitor, area coordinator, line-manager or sometimes gaffer) is the job title of a lower-level management position and role that is primarily based on authority over la ...

for the Algonkian District of

Loudoun County, Virginia Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. The county seat is Leesburg. Loudoun County ...

. Briskman garnered international attention for flipping off President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

Sterling, Virginia Sterling refers most specifically to a census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population of the CDP as of the 2020 United States Census was 30,337 The CDP boundaries are confined to a relatively small area between Virginia ...

, as he returned from a golfing trip in 2017. She once again received international attention when she was elected to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 2019.

Early life

Briskman is originally from the Columbus, Ohio, metropolitan area and graduated from Worthington High School, where she was a field hockey athlete, in 1985. She graduated from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

in 1990, with a degree in journalism. She worked for the school newspaper, '' The Lantern''. She received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Carey Business School The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is the graduate business school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It was established in 2007 and offers full-time and part-time programs leading to the M ...

in 1998.

Career

Briskman interned for the '' Kuwait Times'', where she made news for escaping to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

as the Iraqis invaded Kuwait. She worked at the U.S. Department of State as a community liaison officer for eight years, including at embassies in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. After leaving the State Department, she was in the admissions and marketing departments at Village Green Day School. She was a marketing analyst at several companies until the beginning of 2019, including as

chief marketing officer A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a chief brand officer (CBO), is a C-suite corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including adver ...

of a health-care company in

Chantilly, Virginia Chantilly is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 24,301 as of the 2020 census. Chantilly is named after an early-19th-century mansion and farm, which in turn took the name of an ...

. She received a certificate in

digital marketing Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 2017.

Middle finger controversy

On October 28, 2017, Briskman was riding her bike in

, when the Trump motorcade passed her as he departed Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C. She flipped her middle finger as Trump rode by, which was caught on camera by a photographer. Briskman had worked as a marketing analyst for Akima, a government contractor, for eight months until she was fired for using the viral photo as her

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

cover photo and her

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

profile picture. She sued for wrongful termination as another employee also had "obscene content," which it was her job to flag, on his social media accounts, but was allowed to remove it. Her claim was not upheld in court because Virginia's at-will employment laws do not cover free speech, but the judge granted Briskman the full severance pay she was owed.

2019 election

In 2019, Briskman, a Democrat, was elected to the Algonkian District seat of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, defeating eight-year incumbent Suzanne M. Volpe. She described herself as running on policies such as environmentalism, education, and women's rights, rather than the notice she received for flipping off the president. The ''Washington Post'' described her victory as "fabulous revenge," and Gerard Baker of London's ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' noted that it highlighted President Trump's perceived issues with suburban American women.

Personal life

Briskman moved to Loudoun County in the early 2000s. She is the mother of two with her ex-husband. Briskman has also worked part-time as a

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

instructor.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Briskman, Juli 1967 births Living people 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Virginia politicians 21st-century American women writers American marketing people American yoga teachers County supervisors in Virginia Johns Hopkins Carey Business School alumni Journalists from Ohio Journalists from Virginia Women in marketing Ohio State University School of Communication alumni People from Sterling, Virginia People from Worthington, Ohio Politicians from Columbus, Ohio Protests against Donald Trump United States Department of State officials Virginia Democrats Women in Virginia politics Writers from Columbus, Ohio