Michelle Müntefering
Michelle-Jasmin Gabriele Müntefering (née Schumann; born 9 April 1980) is a German journalist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2013, representing the Herne – Bochum II district.
Müntefering was a member of the party executive board in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2004 to 2014. In addition to her parliamentary mandate, she served as Minister of State (Parliamentary State Secretary) at the Federal Foreign Office under minister Heiko Maas in the fourth government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 until 2021.
Education and early career
Müntefering was born in Herne. During her schooldays at the Hibernia School, she completed a vocational training from 1997 to 1998 as a nanny, which belonged to the concept of the school. After her graduation in 2000, she did an internship in a local editorial office and then joined a news and press agency.
From 2002 to 2007 Müntefering studied journalism with a focus on economics, graduated with a bachelor's degree and initially worked freelance in the media. In 2008 and 2009 she was a research associate to Franz Müntefering at the German Bundestag. From 2008 to 2010 she did a traineeship at Vorwärts in Berlin. From 2010 Müntefering worked as a freelance journalist.