Department of State

Bio, via U.S. Department of State:

Previously, Ms. Casagrande served as the Special Advisor to ECA Assistant Secretary Marie Royce, providing senior-level advice on the formulation of public diplomacy programming to support the National Security Strategy. She has led new initiatives on a broad range of educational and cultural exchange programming to support global women’s economic empowerment, religious freedom, and countering state-sponsored disinformation. A life-long public servant, Ms. Casagrande served in the New Jersey General Assembly representing the 11th and 12th Legislative Districts from 2008 to 2016, rising to Deputy Republican Leader. She is the youngest woman assembly member ever elected in New Jersey, and a member of the first all-female delegation to represent a New Jersey Legislative District. Prior to serving in the New Jersey Assembly, she was a partner in the law firm of Menna, Supko & Casagrande in Shrewsbury, NJ. She has served as township attorney and special counsel for municipalities throughout New Jersey. Ms. Casagrande served as Director of the Young Women’s Leadership Institute from 2010-2016, which she developed to expose high school seniors to careers in public service. She has been an honorary fellow of Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics since 2015. She is an exchange alumna, having participated both as an American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) delegate to Nepal in 2010 and as an ACYPL fellowship recipient at the East-West Center in 2015 from where she traveled to India as part of a delegation of young parliamentarians. A New Jersey native, Ms. Casagrande holds a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law – Camden and a B.S. in political science from Pennsylvania State University. While in college, Ms. Casagrande interned in the new democratic government of South Africa.

Bio, via Enlightened Women Website:

Upon graduation, Teresa Davis took a leap of faith and moved from her tiny hometown of Hoschton, GA, to the thriving political city of Washington, DC. In the short two and a half years that she has lived in DC, she has gone from unemployed millennial to budding journalist to being named one of “The Hill’s 50 Most Beautiful.” In that short time, she has grown personally and professionally, citing the amazing networking opportunities and relationships that have opened many doors for her, all of which were a result of her move to DC. Teresa served the past year as Miss District of Columbia 2014 where she competed for the title of Miss America in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 2014. In addition to her duties as Miss DC, she focused her entire reign on advocating for military families and military support. She spent her year volunteering for many military support organizations including the USO and Blue Star Families. She continues to support and volunteer with many military causes and organizations. She is the daughter of a retired Major in the US Army, and will always honor our military and its families in any way possible. She currently works on Capitol Hill for U.S. Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) as a legislative correspondent. Before she roamed the halls of our nation’s Capitol, she was an eager journalist at the BBC, where she produced and edited content for BBC World New’s social media team and its Arabic Unit. She plans to continue her career in politics and return to graduate school to study international affairs. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia with dual degrees in broadcast journalism and Spanish, and has studied at Oxford University in the United Kingdom as well as the Universidad de Cadiz in Cadiz, Spain.