Fabiola Rodríguez-Ciampoli: Deputy chief of staff, Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García (D-Ill.)

Fabiola Rodríguez-Ciampoli found her home in Congress with Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), a fellow Mexican immigrant.

Rodríguez-Ciampoli already had a distinguished legislative staff career before joining García’s team, developing Hispanic messaging for then-Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and later for former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). She also served as communications director for then-Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), and as executive director of the House Democratic Caucus.

Rodríguez-Ciampoli has also ventured off campus, running Hispanic communications for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, and spending three years in a top Western Hemisphere position at the State Department.

“How well did I know [García]? I’d never met him in person. I — again, I knew of him, I read about him when he ran for mayor. The first time, the very first time I met him was the day he interviewed me for the job, and we clicked,” Rodríguez-Ciampoli said.

Rodríguez-Ciampoli’s first political job was far away from the Capitol — she worked in communications for former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

After that gig, Rodríguez-Ciampoli enrolled in graduate school at American University, where she met her husband and decided to immigrate to the United States.

Rodríguez-Ciampoli developed roots in Washington, becoming a chief architect of modern Hispanic political communication and mentoring younger colleagues, but never leaving her native Mexico fully behind.

“I’ll have to use a phrase that my boss also likes to use. Another thing we have in common. There is a song by Los Tigres del Norte that says, ‘Sí se puede tener el corazón en dos lugares,’ something like that. You know, I’ll find you the phrase exactly. So my home is both the United States and Mexico,” she said.

The exact line from “Mis dos patrias” by Los Tigres del Norte: “Two homelands fit in the same heart.”