Jenna Valle-Riestra is only 5’9” but towered over Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.
The seven-time Olympic medalist, on Capitol Hill to testify last year on the FBI’s mishandling of abuse allegations against former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar, was just one of many high-profile witnesses Valle-Riestra crossed paths with while working for the No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois.
When the Senate confirmed the first Black woman Supreme Court justice, it was Valle-Riestra who told that story as the press secretary for the Senate Judiciary Committee that Durbin chairs.