Alyssa Mende Mastromonaco (born February 22, 1976)
is an American author, podcaster, spokeswoman, and former government official. She served as
White House Deputy Chief of Staff
The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is officially the top aide to the White House Chief of Staff, White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the Wh ...
for operations in the administration of President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
from 2011 to 2014.
She was the youngest woman to hold that position.
She was later President of Global Communications Strategy & Talent at
A&E Networks
A&E Television Networks, LLC, doing business as A+E Global Media (formerly A+E Networks) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned and operated as a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company th ...
and the chief operating officer of
Vice Media
Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...
.
She has also been a contributing editor at ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages.
The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'' magazine.
Since 2017, Mastromonaco has been a podcaster with
Crooked Media.
Early life and education
Mastromonaco grew up in
Rhinebeck, New York. Her father was a business consultant and her mother was a high school lunch aide.
In 1994, she graduated from Rhinebeck High School.
During high school Mastromonaco worked in various jobs, including her first job as a checkout person at a grocery store called Kilmer's IGA.
Mastromonaco went to the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
for two years, majoring in French with a minor in Japanese. She then transferred to the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1998.
Career
The summer after her sophomore year of college, after seeing then-Congressman
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
speak on campus, Mastromonaco was hired by Philip Fiermonte to work as an intern for Sanders in his
Burlington, Vermont, district office. At that time, Sanders was campaigning for his fourth term in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
. Mastromonaco has said that the experience inspired her to work in government after seeing how it was possible to help people doing constituent work on a grassroots level. Although she had transferred to Wisconsin to study French, the summer working for Sanders shifted her passion from studying French and Japanese to studying political science.
She cites Fiermonte as a great mentor during an important time in her life.
The next summer, Mastromonaco was invited to work for Sanders in Washington, D.C.
After college Mastromonaco wanted to continue working in government but couldn't find a job, so she worked as a real-estate investment-trust paralegal, which she said was instrumental in teaching her how to work well as part of a team.
The job was in the
World Trade Center.
In 2000, Mastromonaco moved to Boston and got her first job in politics as a staff assistant to Senator
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...
. For a short time, after
9/11, she worked at a Republican lobbyist group,
Richard Berman's
American Beverage Institute, as director of membership.
In 2002, Mastromonaco was hired as Press Secretary for Congressman
Rick Boucher of Virginia, but in December 2002 went back to work for Kerry. In 2004, Mastromonaco was hired as the director of scheduling for Kerry's
presidential campaign.
Obama administration
Starting in February 2004, Mastromonaco joined the then
Illinois State Senator
The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under th ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's campaign during his run for
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
. She was hired as Director of Scheduling.
The team who made up that office included
Jon Favreau
Jonathan Kolia Favreau ( ; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as ''Rudy (film), Rudy'' (1993), ''PCU (film), PCU'' (1994), ''Swingers (1996 film), Swingers'' (1996), ''Very ...
,
Tommy Vietor,
Robert Gibbs, and
Pete Rouse.
She then worked in Obama's Senate office.
From 2007 to 2008, Mastromonaco was Political Director for Obama's
Political Action Committee (PAC), Hopefund, during the 2006 midterm elections.
The mission of the PAC was to teach young people who had no experience in the political process how to be field and community organizers.
Following Obama's announcement in February 2007, Mastromonaco served as Director of Scheduling and Advance for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
In January 2011, she was appointed deputy chief of staff for operations.
In November 2011, ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'' magazine listed Mastromonaco on its "2011 List Issue" as being one of Washington's most powerful, least famous people.
Along with
Nancy-Ann DeParle, who was
White House Deputy Chief of Staff
The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is officially the top aide to the White House Chief of Staff, White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the Wh ...
for Policy, it was the first time a presidential administration had two women deputies in power.
She was notable for her long institutional memory, the ability to understand logistics, and her low-key approach to the position.
In May 2014, Mastromonaco left her position as deputy chief of staff for operations.
She was replaced by
Anita Decker Breckenridge.
Post-White House
In June 2014, Mastromonaco was hired as a contributing editor at ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages.
The feature editions focus on women aro ...
.''
In January 2015, Mastromonaco joined
Vice Media
Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...
as chief operating officer.
She left Vice after two years for its parent company,
A&E Networks
A&E Television Networks, LLC, doing business as A+E Global Media (formerly A+E Networks) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned and operated as a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company th ...
. She left this role in 2018.
Mastromonaco's first book, ''Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House'', was published by
Twelve in March 2017. Her second book, ''So...Here's the Thing'', was released in 2019. Lauren Oyler contributed to Mastromonaco's writing on both books.
In 2017, Mastromonaco became a contributor to
Crooked Media. There, she co-hosts the podcast ''Hysteria'' and appears on other Crooked Media podcasts.
In 2022, Mastromonaco was named President of BedBy8, a production company launched by
George Stephanopolous and
Ali Wentworth.
Personal life
In November 2013, Mastromonaco married David Krone, who had worked with Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...
and was his chief of staff from 2008 to 2015.
They were married by Justice
Elena Kagan
Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination ...
at the Supreme Court.
, the couple live in the
Tribeca
Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...
neighborhood of New York City.
Boards and memberships
* HeadCount.org, Board of Directors
*
The Kennedy Center, Board of Trustees
*
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
, Department of Political Science, Board of Visitors
Published books
*''Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?'',
Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group, Inc. (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagard� ...
, 2017, ,
*''So Here's the Thing . . .: Notes on Growing Up, Getting Older, and Trusting Your Gut'',
Grand Central Publishing
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...
, 2019,
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mastromonaco, Alyssa
1976 births
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American women writers
American chief operating officers
American magazine editors
American political podcasters
American people of Italian descent
American women podcasters
Living people
New York (state) Democrats
Obama administration personnel
People from Rhinebeck, New York
People from Tribeca
University of Vermont alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
Vice Media
White House deputy chiefs of staff
Women government officials
Writers from Manhattan