New Jersey Woman Named One of 50 Most beautiful People On Capital Hill

Raised by “internationally minded” parents, Noelle LuSane was aware of a world outside her hometown of Orange, N.J., from an early age.

She was 9 when she visited Venezuela, her first foreign country. In high school, LuSane was part of a class trip to Namibia. She studied anthropology and Spanish at Rutgers University and spent a year studying abroad.

“I was always very much interested in other ways of life,” she says. LuSane, 28, has visited more than two dozen countries as a committee aide to Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), a ranking member on a House International Relations subcommittee. These aren’t golf trips to St. Andrews, however. Destinations are often war-torn, poverty-stricken regions of the world like Sudan, Ethiopia and Liberia.

“Anytime we travel, there is an element of roughing it. … We don’t do shopping,” LuSane says.

Back home, LuSane, who has a “serious boyfriend,” likes going to see live music or eating in neighborhood restaurants. She samba dances on Saturday mornings. She is also studying for a master’s degree in international education. - The Hill , Jim Snyder