Cristine Pedersen is a career foreign service officer in Washington, D.C., and is heading to Dakar, Senegal, in 2026. Prior to working for the Department of State, Cristine enlisted for five years as an Arabic Cryptologic Linguist in the U.S. Marine Corps. She was primarily based in Augusta, Georgia, and served overseas in Djibouti in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After leaving the Marine Corps, she attended WSP at Georgetown in 2015 before beginning her undergraduate journey there at the School of Foreign Service. Cristine received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, was selected to be a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Pat Tillman Scholar, and served as the president of Georgetown’s Student Veteran Association during her time there.

While professionally, she focuses on conflict and humanitarian responses, Cristine also continues to serve as an advocate for veterans in higher education and in transition. Her advocacy brought her to SXSWEdu in 2019, where she presented on the needs of student veterans in higher education, supported by the CollegeBoard. Now, as a full-time diplomat, Cristine continues to support the veteran community through her involvement with WSP and by serving as a stand-up comedy instructor with the Armed Services Arts Partnership.