Melania Trump adds new hires to her 'already stellar team'

US First Lady Melania Trump has added “quality professionals” to her team in anticipation of her second year in the role. She announced on Thursday that she has hired a communications coordinator, policy director and director of operations.

With excitement, Trump said in a statement that she is adding quality professionals to her “already stellar team.” The new hires make the number of full-time staffers on her official payroll to 12.

According to The New York Times, Trump hired a director of policy to advance her platform, and her team had searched for a person to fill the role for months. Trump’s policy director is expected to help further an agenda that has been generally defined as helping children. The White House announced her choice: 27-year-old Reagan Thompson.

Thompson’s work profile includes having served as an executive assistant on the National Security Council. She had also worked as communications and policy adviser for Mike Pompeo, the CIA director. It is yet to be seen if and how her experience and background in serving in Pompeo would be an advantage to her new role. Thompson described her previous duties as a process of “working on issues for the intelligence and Benghazi committees and on Iran, Guantánamo and Asia.”

But the White House looked confident that Thompson’s experience would be an asset. Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in an email to The New York Times that her experience with a variety of statewide and national campaigns will be important as the FLOTUS and her team prepare to roll out her official platform in the months ahead.

It is unclear where Trump would specifically focus her efforts, but she has provided some clues. She has publicly expressed interest in helping children affected by the opioid crisis. She has also been advocating anti-bullying measures and accompanied her husband on disaster relief efforts last year.

So far, the number of full-time staffers on Trump’s official payroll is comparatively smaller than that of previous first ladies. Both Obama and Laura Bush had about 25 staffers by the time their spouses left office. About a year into her tenure, former US first lady Michelle Obama unveiled her signature campaign called “Let’s Move,” which was aimed at combating child obesity. Former FLOTUS Laura Bush, on the other hand, took that much time organising the first National Book Festival.