Behind the velvet rope at White House Correspondents' Dinner (with Tammy Haddad)

In this episode of The Conversation with Dasha Burns, host Dasha interviews Tammy Haddad, the renowned social architect of Washington, D.C.'s elite social circuit, ahead of the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Haddad, a former TV producer who transitioned into becoming the city’s premier event curator, offers an insider’s look at the cultural and political significance of the annual dinner and its surrounding events. She recounts the dinner’s origins as a response to President Harding’s hospitality, its evolution into a high-stakes networking hub, and the legendary moments—like Barbra Streisand’s near-disappearance and the 2011 Obama-Trump exchange—that shaped its legacy. Haddad also reveals how her iconic Garden Brunch has become a platform for connecting power players, celebrities, and public figures around causes like maternal health and veterans’ advocacy, while navigating the delicate balance between journalism and socializing. She defends the event’s value, arguing that personal connections foster trust and collaboration across political lines, and highlights the growing influence of new media and tech figures in the D.C. social ecosystem.