White House Press Secretary's Resume Shows MLM Affiliation, Unconfirmed Bar License Claims
Katie Zacharia worked as an affiliate marketer for Beachbody, a fitness company operating a multilevel marketing scheme, and did not pass the California bar exam despite being identified as an attorney on Fox News, according to reporting.
What happened
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia worked as an affiliate marketer for Beachbody starting in 2013, promoting its Shakeology product. Her online resume shows a gap extending from 2013 to late 2023. Prior work history includes a position at Zhong Lun law firm in China from 2011–2013 and a role at the nonprofit Fix California listed as general counsel on LinkedIn, though tax filings show she was actually a fundraiser. Journalist Judd Legum reported that Zacharia—who was identified as an attorney in at least 18 Fox News appearances—did not appear to have ever passed the bar. The Wall Street Journal reported that she sat for the California bar exam but never passed, a finding WIRED independently confirmed. Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the State Bar of California seeking investigation into her attorney claims. Zacharia says she stopped promoting Beachbody products because of its vitamin A content, which she didn't feel was good for her while pregnant.
Context
Zacharia's LinkedIn profile listed Beachbody email addresses, and Beachbody confirmed she was among its 300,000 independent Team Beachbody distributors in 2013. Beachbody has a documented legal history including a 2017 settlement of a $3.6 million consumer protection lawsuit alleging false health claims about products and unauthorized credit card charges, a 2023 class action alleging scams of coaches, and the company subsequently dropped its multilevel marketing program in 2024 in favor of a single-level affiliate model. The discrepancy between her claimed legal credentials and actual bar examination results raises questions about professional misrepresentation during her media appearances. Similar patterns appear among other Trump administration figures: FBI chief Kash Patel previously promoted supplements promising to help people detox from the Covid-19 vaccine, surgeon general nominee Nicole Saphier reported receiving nearly $300,000 in business income from a supplement line, and Trump himself once oversaw a multilevel marketing company selling vitamins and health products.
What's disputed
Beachbody (BODi) initially stated there was no record of Zacharia employment, contradicting initial LinkedIn evidence, though a company representative later confirmed she was among its 300,000 independent Team Beachbody distributors in 2013. BODi's statement characterized Team Beachbody as a 'peer-to-peer sales and support network' rather than explicitly acknowledging its multilevel marketing structure, and said it would be 'misrepresentation' to conflate Zacharia's historical affiliation with 'BODi's current business and operations.'