Confident 22-year-old graduate is dating a Democrat and doesn't think her father is sexist
While president-elect Donald Trump's older children, Donald Jr and Ivanka, were seen regularly stumping for their old man throughout the election campaign, his only child with second wife Marla Maples largely shunned the spotlight.
Tiffany Trump addressed the Republican national convention in July, when her father became the party's official nominee for president, but since then kept a low profile.
However, she upped her game a week before Americans went to the polls.
Last week, Tiffany, the second-youngest of Donald Trump's five children, joined her half-sister on the campaign trail in Georgia to tell Republican volunteers she considered the state her "second home". She was also by her father's side as he delivered his victory speech at the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan this morning .
Nevertheless, the younger Trump daughter is still something of a mystery to the US and the world. Here are ten facts about the elusive Tiffany.
She went to an Ivy League university
After growing up in California with her mother, TV personality Marla Maples, Tiffany went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania this year with a double major in sociology and urban studies. "She's got all As at Penn, we're so proud of her," her father, who attended the same university, told People magazine.
She's dating a Democrat – who likes Hillary Clinton
Tiffany met Ross Mechanic, a 21-year-old software engineering student, at university and the pair have been together since last year. Ross is a registered Democrat who expressed support for Trump's rival Hillary Clinton on social media. "While Ross perhaps does not align with his girlfriend and her father politically, he does appear to have a head for business," the Daily Mail reports.
She interned at Vogue
In 2011, Tiffany landed a highly sought after internship at the biggest fashion magazine in the world – albeit with a little helping hand from her big sister, who runs her own fashion business. She also walked in a New York fashion show, modelling for her close friend Andrew Warren.
She has had a music career
Her interests extend far beyond fashion and sociology. Tiffany released a catchy pop song called Like a Bird when she was just 17 years old, but the reviews weren't kind. "It's extremely Auto-Tuned, so it's hard to tell what Trump's voice actually sounds like, but the bleary melody and synth effects will probably get stuck in your head for at least the next few hours," Said Vanity Fair.
She's a doting daughter
Speaking at the Republican convention, Tiffany delivered a brief but heartfelt speech about how her father motivated her while she was growing up. "His desire for excellence is contagious." she said. "He possesses a unique gift for bringing that trait out in others starting with those closest to him." She went on to describe her father as a "friendly, considerate and funny" man. "I have admired my father all of my life," she said, "and I love him with all my heart."
But Trump is less proud of her than his other kids
In an interview with Fox and Friends earlier this week, Donald Trump said that he was proud of all his children, but his youngest daughter "to a lesser extent."
In the interview the president-elect said: "I'm very proud of my children. I mean, I'm just looking at them right now, as an example for your show. But I'm very proud, because Don and Eric and Ivanka and – you know, to a lesser extent because she just got out of school, out of college – but, uh, Tiffany, who has also been so terrific. They work so hard."
According to the Daily Mail, "it appears the 23-year-old might need to put in a little more legwork if she wants to win her father's affections."
Her mum is a TV personality
Tiffany's mother, Marla Maples, was married to Donald Trump from 1993 to 1997. She started her career as an actress with small roles in films including Maximum Overdrive, the only movie directed by horror author Stephen King, and the Steven Seagal vehicle Executive Decision. A more credible appearance was in US auteur Todd Solondz's 1998 film Happiness.
Maples's connection to Trump led her to present Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants in the 1990s and she has also appeared as a celebrity guest on TV wrestling. In addition, she has her own radio show, been a co-host on The View – the US version of ITV's Loose Women – and will be a contestant in the next series of Dancing With the Stars.
Earlier this year, Maples told People magazine she had effectively raised Tiffany as a single mother. The 52-year-old said: "Her daddy is a good provider with education and such, but as far as time, it was just me. Her father wasn't able to be there with day-to-day skills as a parent. He loves his kids. There's no doubt. But everything was a bit of a negotiation."
She doesn't think her dad is sexist
Throughout the presidential campaign Trump faced endless backlash for his blatantly sexist and misogynistic comments about women, which included comments about their appearance, asking how Clinton could "satisfy America" if she "can't even satisfy her husband" and a "joke" about Ivanka's attractiveness and how he would date her if she weren't his daughter.
"He evaluates female worth in relationship to male worth and appears to view women as either baby-makers or sex toys," says Quartz.
Tiffany, however, disagrees. "He wants us to do the best and he has the utmost faith that we can accomplish whatever we set our minds to just as well as men, if not better," she said earlier this year, reports The Hill.
Sister Ivanka agreed it was unfair to label their father sexist because of how well he treats his daughters. "I think the way he raised me, the way he raised Tiffany, it's a testament to the fact that he believes in inspiring women and empowering women," she said.
She may be eyeing up law school
Posts on Tiffany's Instagram account suggest she has been preparing for law school. At the University of Pennsylvania she majored in sociology and urban studies. After she graduated in May, many wondered if she would follow in her family's footsteps and join the Trump business. But it looks as if she might have other plans. The 23-year-old shared a photograph of a pile of study books for the Law School Admission Test with the caption "I got this".
Page Six, the gossip section of the New York Post, claims her mother Marla was overheard telling friends at New York Fashion Week in September that her daughter "wants to be a lawyer". According to the newspaper's source, one friend joked: "You can always use more lawyers in your family" – to which Marla "just laughed and rolled her eyes".
Lara Maggs, a friend from Penn, told Cosmopolitan that law school made sense for Tiffany. "A law degree would bring added value to a really accomplished family," she said.
She wasn't always included in her father's presidential campaign
With the exception of her speech at the Republican National Convention, Tiffany Trump was notably absent from much of her father's campaign. She was left out of the biographical documentary on Donald that was shown at the convention, had only a passing reference made to her in Greta Van Susteren's one-hour "Meet the Trumps" special for Fox News and was missing altogether from the family's much-derided advertisement aimed at Millennial voters.
When she did appear, Tiffany seemed to do so on her own terms. At the second presidential debate, she even "masterfully ducked out" of a kiss from her father, New York magazine says.
Heat Street agrees, saying "Tiffany appeared so rattled that she recoiled when her father tried to kiss her, instead giving his arm a strange kind of rub".
She may be "the B-list Trump", according to the New York Times, but Tiffany was popular with voters and the watching media even though many things about her "remain shrouded in mystery," Heat Street says.
At the opening of a Trump hotel in Washington DC, Tiffany was relegated to sitting with her in-laws and other relatives under the age of 18.
However, she did find herself in the limelight later that day, helping her family members cut the ceremonial ribbon.
Tiffany's status as the outsider of the clan seems to have been confirmed by her lack of Secret Service detail. Half-sister Ivanka Trump received protection in September, while Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea also has a guard. But as yet, Tiffany remains protection-less. This is likely to change, however, now that her father has been elected president.
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