Lauri Fitz-Pegado

The hallmarks of Lauri Fitz-Pegado’s career are cultural and commercial diplomacy. Her professional path has included government service--a civil servant at the Voice of America, Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency serving in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, a Presidential Appointment as Assistant Secretary in the Department of Commerce and Director General of the Foreign Commercial Service, a telecommunications executive, and an advocate for domestic and international clients.

She has advised over 20 countries, corporations, individuals, and non-profits on issues including trade, foreign direct investment, communications, crisis resolution, branding, and image, as a former partner at The Livingston Group, and senior executive at global public affairs companies, Hill and Knowlton and Gray and Company. She was a vice president at Iridium, LLC, a global satellite communications company for mobile telephones created by Motorola.

Fitz-Pegado studied ballet and other dance genres, grounded in the training of the renowned Jones-Haywood Dance School in Washington, D.C., founded by trailblazers Doris Jones and Claire Haywood in 1941 to provide ballet training for children of color. She earned Ford Foundation Scholarships awarded by George Balanchine and administered through the School of American Ballet. Fitz-Pegado performed with the Capitol Ballet Company, Vassar Dance Theatre, and Ballet Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. She recognizes the valuable attributes derived from dance--discipline, rigor, athleticism, musicality, cognitive skills, and commitment--which have informed her development and which she applies to her current students’ ballet training. Using her training and passion for dance and the creative sector, she now advises and promotes an international visual artist, performing artists, athletes, and institutions that share her commitment to social justice, empowerment, and inclusion (http://inthedash.live).

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar College, she holds a masters degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Her children and grandchildren live and work in Scotland, Angola, and Mozambique. Fitz-Pegado is multilingual, and serves on the boards and advisory committees of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, the Ron Brown Scholars, the International Career Advancement Program, and the Workers of St. Alban’s, and is a member of the International Women’s Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. In this chapter of her life, Fitz-Pegado continues to lift others in creative endeavors across the globe. Her memoir, "Dancing in the Dash: My Story of Empowerment, Diplomacy, and Resilience," was published by Bold Story Press in September 2021.