Alaska News

2 Alaskans make D.C.'s 'most beautiful' list

The Hill has named two Alaskans to its annual list of Capitol Hill's most beautiful people: Libby Casey, a former KUAC radio host in Fairbanks, and Mary Hiratsuka, from Dillingham.

Libby Casey, 36, spent a summer in the Alaska when she was 20 years old, and like so many transplants, decided to come back. She lived in Alaska for 10 years, most recently Fairbanks, before heading to Washington D.C. to work as a correspondent for Alaska Public Radio. She calls her move from Alaska's Interior to D.C. four years ago a "baptism by fire."

Casey is now a producer and host of C-SPAN's "Washington Journal." When she began appearing as a guest host on C-SPAN three years ago, her friends staged wardrobe "interventions" to make her lose her Alaska style. Now Casey says she has transformed into the "Washington version of Libby."

Mary Hiratsuka, 27, works as a legislative assistant for Rep. Don Young. An Inuit from the town of Dillingham, Hiratsuka calls herself a "fish snob," as Dillingham is the "salmon capitol of the world."

Hiratsuka left the small town first as a high school exchange student to Brazil, and later to attend Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In 2003, she interned for the late Sen. Ted Stevens, and after college eventually started her work for Don Young. She has been working in his office for the past three years, which she says has helped her stay in touch with her roots.

Hiratsuka is moving from D.C. to New York City with her fiancé to pursue a career in finance. "It's tough to leave the Hill," she says. "To get out of that and to try something completely new in a different industry is scary, but exciting."

See the whole list from The Hill, here.

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