Kate Bedingfield Reflects on Time as White House Comms Director as She Leaves Job for Her Family

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Kate Bedingfield admits that it's going to take some time to adjust to life outside the White House, as she prepares to pass the torch on Wednesday. The Biden administration's communications director first began working with the now-president in 2015. Since then, Joe Biden has been a part of her daily life, a fixture in late-night phone calls, early morning meetings and, she admits, at some less-than-opportune moments.

"I remember when the now-president once called me at home one night, when I hadn't been working for him for very long," the 41-year-old tells PEOPLE. "My son was two-and-a-half at the time and potty training but of course, I answered and was talking to [Biden].

She continues: "Meanwhile, my son is on the toilet and says, 'Mommy, I did it!' And the then-vice president says, 'What'd he do, mommy?' And I said, 'Well ... if you must know ...'"

Biden's response surprised Bedingfield at the time. "He said, 'Hang up the phone. What are you doing? Do not answer my phone call when you are doing something with your kids or with your family. Family first.' And he meant it."

That set the tone for the years she would spend as Biden's deputy campaign manager and later communications director, eventually going on to work in the White House. "That [early interaction] really showed me what kind of boss he was," she says. "If he finds out you're putting work ahead of a family obligation, he is extremely disappointed."

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Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

Post-White House, Bedingfield's primary focus will indeed be on family — with a specific goal to relax and spend time with her husband and children, now 5 and 9 years old.

Balancing it all, she tells PEOPLE, has been, "extremely challenging and I am so so lucky to have the greatest husband in the world, who is so supportive."

A live-in nanny — a "luxury," she admits" — has also been integral to meeting the demands of her job, as has her supportive group of friends.

"I have great friends who have raised their hand to say, 'I can take your kids on Saturday so you can make it to that meeting.' Without that community, it would truly be impossible to do this," she says.

Now, she'll offer her undivided attention to her husband and kids, with the family kicking off her time off with a Colorado ski trip later this month.

Also on Bedingfield's travel agenda? An upcoming girls' trip to Las Vegas, where she'll be one of the lucky fans to catch Taylor Swift's Eras tour in person. "I am an enormous Swiftie. I have no problem saying that," she laughs.

Kate Bedingfield Kate Bedingfield's kids in the Oval Office

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Bedingfield first announced that would step down from her position last summer, later having a change of heart and saying she would stay on.

But in February, she announced again that she intended to step back from her role — for real this time — leading colleagues to begin the process of mourning her departure.

"What I appreciate the most about Kate beyond her brilliance professionally, is that she is always a source of calm and levity in any situation. It's rare," says deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon. "Kate, like myself, is on every foreign trip, and in the craziness of those trips that are always high pressure and stress, she is always someone you can turn to in the eye of the storm—for that joke that calms everyone's nerves or for smart advice to remedy a problem."

O'Malley Dillon adds, "I will also miss our many talks about being moms to young kids in these jobs. While I am sad to see her go, I am excited her family will get to see more of her."

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Patrick Semansky/AP Kate Bedingfield

Bedingfield's final day in the White House is Wednesday, when she will be bid adieu with "some sort of sendoff" likely to involve the president giving a toast, she tells PEOPLE.

And she'll leave with plenty of memories, she says, including one she thinks of often."The night that Russia invaded Ukraine, I was sitting in the national security advisor's office with Jake Sullivan and [former Chief of Staff] Ron Klain and [Ukrainian] President Zelenskyy reached out ... to speak to President Biden," she recounts.

"Zelenskyy was... I believe in a basement of the presidential palace," she continues. "They had a really powerful conversation. It was probably 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning our time. And President Biden said, 'Anything you need from me, I'm here. I'll always be here.'"

Those historic, fly-on-the-wall moments will be cherished, she says, but there will be tangible souvenirs, too, like the official vote tally from Jan. 6, 2021 — a gift from the Clerk of the House that's hung on her office wall since Biden was sworn in.

Paul Morigi/Getty

But even outside the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bedingfield says the bonds she made during her time with Team Biden likely won't break any time soon.

"You go through these jobs, it's intense, you're kind of in the trenches together. You build lifetime bonds," she says, adding that one of those is with former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who Bedingfield has known since the two worked together at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006.

"We were bridesmaids at each other's weddings, even before coming to the White House," Bedingfield says.

In addition to the lifelong friendships, Bedingfield says she'll take with her many lessons about navigating politics — and life — with an open mind.

"The best part of this job is getting to learn about anything under the sun, from the experts in that field," she tells PEOPLE. "Part of the great thing about communications is that you get to dip your toe in everything. You get to learn from the world's foremost experts in that field."

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And then there are the lessons she'll take from the president himself. "The president has a sense of resilience and resoluteness that I think he has developed from navigating challenges in his own life. He teaches all of us to have that same resilience— to be even-keeled and keep your head down. You put one foot in front of the other and you know what your north star is. You don't give up when the days get hard."

Lessons like those, she says, have made the job she's leaving "the honor of my lifetime."

"I will never have a job I love as much as this job," she tells PEOPLE. "Or do anything that means as much to me as this job."

And if the president were to come calling again — say, with a request that she join the staff of a 2024 campaign? "At some point, if the president felt I could be of use to him ... I never say never."