I would say that Barack Obama not only made me a better person but made me better at my job. He's one of the most intellectually curious people you'll ever meet and really brings that out in other people.
Alyssa MastromonacoI wanted young women to know that I was very lucky that I worked for people who literally let me be me. If I had ever been anyone other than me, I would have come off as a fake, a phony, a fraud, and never would have gotten where I ultimately ended up. You can be yourself and be in politics, and they should know that. That was kind of why I wanted to do it - because I didn't see any freaks in politics like me.
Alyssa MastromonacoI didn't have a ton of role models back in 1998. So, when I was looking to get in, it was really just looking up at all the men who were out there. When you're not seeing women - when you're breaking into anything - it's like, "Well, this is what the men do and how they act, so we're going to just emulate that behavior."
Alyssa MastromonacoPresident Obama really just let all of us genuinely be who we were and didn't expect — I'm goofy. And so for him, he just never expected us to be any different than who we were and he wanted us to always give our opinions. He is not the kind of person who wanted to sit around and be told he was right all the time. Especially if he wasn't. And I think that seeing that in him made us all take that away with us.
Alyssa MastromonacoI think the best conversation to have been able to eavesdrop on was the one the minute after it was called that Trump would be the next president of the Unites States. Because by all indications, it does not seem anybody thought they were going to win. That is the moment I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. Or, like, in the microwave, whatever.
Alyssa Mastromonaco