Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) has five new staff changes in his office. Emily Zammit was hired as a staff assistant after spending three weeks as an intern in the office of Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.). Zammit earned a bachelor’s in criminology and political science from the University of Florida in 2006, where she was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. In the year between graduation and starting her job on Capitol Hill, she traveled widely in the United States and in Latin America. [IMGCAP(1)]

Originally from West Palm Beach, Fla., she enjoys horseback riding and is currently applying to graduate programs in security studies.

Justin Kimbler has been promoted from staff assistant to legislative correspondent, after joining Diaz-Balart’s crew in March and previously working for then-Rep. Anne Northup (R-Ky.). He hails from Louisville, Ky., where he worked in a church following his 2005 graduation from the University of Louisville. His major was business and his minor was international business.

Kimbler currently plays the upright bass at the New Life Christian Church, which is based in the D.C. area. He eventually wants to go to graduate school in international relations and hopes to work for the State Department one day.

Jessica Ashley Davis is Diaz-Balart’s new scheduler, and she is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s in liberal arts and concentrations in Spanish, speech communication and pre-law. She turned 23 on Tuesday.

Davis enjoys listening to music, reading and exercising; her family is “sportsy” and currently lives in Chicago. She is a native of Tennessee and has her sights set on law school in the immediate future. [IMGCAP(2)]

Tina O’Hara is now a junior legislative assistant. She first interned with Diaz-Balart in 2004 and since then has served in various other positions in the office. O’Hara has a master’s degree in international communication and policy from George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from the University of South Carolina. She is originally from New Smyrna Beach, Fla.

Adriana Pereira has been promoted from deputy press secretary to press secretary. A 2005 graduate of Florida International University with a bachelor’s in journalism and mass communications, Pereira is currently working on a master’s degree in public administration, which she hopes to complete in 2008.

Originally from Miami, Pereira “really likes” Diaz-Balart’s office, partly because the Congressman represents the district Pereira is from.

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