Cultural and commercial diplomacy are the hallmarks of Lauri Fitz-Pegado\u2019s career. She has worked at the Voice of America and the U.S. Information Agency, Lauri served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Appointed by President Clinton, she was Assistant Secretary and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the Department of Commerce led by Secretary Ronald H. Brown. In the private sector she advised countries, corporations, individuals, and non-profits as a senior executive at Hill and Knowlton and Gray and Company, and as a partner at The Livingston Group. Lauri also was an executive at Iridium, the global mobile satellite communications company. With a history of ballet training and performing with the Capitol Ballet, Vassar Dance Theatre, and Ballet Santo Domingo, she now has returned to her passions by teaching ballet and mentoring. She applies her communications and public relations skills to promoting artists, and her business and leadership experience to advising dance institutions sharing her commitment to social change, empowerment, and inclusion. Her memoir, Dancing in the Dash: My Story of Empowerment, Diplomacy, and Resilience, was released in the fall of 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"