The story behind Omarosa’s connection to new Wright-Dunbar business

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

The friendships forged in college don’t always last.

But it turns out that the one Dayton realtor Shannon Jackson and Omarosa Manigault-Newman formed in a Central State University communications class 26 years ago was made out of super strong stuff.

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"We connected on so many different levels," said Manigault-Newman, a reality TV star and former assistant and a director of communications in the President Donald Trump administration. "She has had my back through good times and bad times and through rough patches."

Manigault Newman, who is often referred to as just Omarosa, was in town in June to support Shannon Jackson and Kurt Jackson — her husband of 8 years and an agent for 25 years — as they opened their HER Realtors office at 1024 W. Third St. in Dayton's historic Wright-Dunbar neighborhood.

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Jackson said she chose the neighborhood partly because it is central located, as her business serves all of the Miami Valley.

She said she also is happy to contribute to Wright-Dunbar  revitalization. The building also contains the City of Dayton’s Innerwest Priority Board office.

“I want to see the westside grow and develop, and I want to be a part of it,” Jackson said.

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The office will have about 10 to 15 agents, Jackson said.

Manigault-Newman now lives in Jacksonville, Florida and married Pastor John Allen Newman, the senior pastor of The Sanctuary at Mount Calvary, last year.

An ordained minister herself, Manigault-Newman works with her husband. The Youngstown native studied at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton and the Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce.

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She said she and Jackson both share a deep connection to their mothers and keep faith as the center of everything they do.

“Our marriages are based on hope, faith and love,” she said. “This move into her new physical space is a move so she can help the community more. So people can experience the greatest thing you can as an American and that is to be a homeowner.”

Credit: Contributed

Credit: Contributed

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