Inside the Office of Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah): Karilyn Satterthwaite

Title: Scheduler

Age: 29

{mosads}Hometown: Farmington, Utah

Education: B.S. from Utah Valley University in accounting

Last job: Working for a structural engineer (doing accounting)

Biggest scheduling nightmare: When I put an appointment in the wrong time zone. The congressman was two hours early.

Explanation you most often use when rescheduling your boss: Votes on the floor.

Best scheduling trick: Receiving all scheduling requests via email.

Interests outside of work: Running, traveling, cooking treats for the office and preparing to be a new mom in February.

Working in government runs in Karilyn Satterthwaite’s family. Her sister is a staffer for Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), her husband once worked for former Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and her brother is a government contractor in Washington.

But it was a series of happy accidents that brought Satterthwaite to the House. The college accounting major came to D.C. nearly four years ago and interviewed for an intern position in Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) office.

Instead, she was offered a staff assistant position, and later became a legislative correspondent before joining Chaffetz’s staff when he took office.

“There are definitely differences [between the House and Senate],” she said. “One of the biggest differences is obviously the number of staff. I love being able to work for a smaller office, and we have this tight group of people. I love coming to work.”

Highlights for Satterthwaite in Congress have been appearing on CNN, attending the presidential inauguration and seeing the behind-the-scenes work involved in politics.

“You get the back story, and then you see it play out,” she said. “You watch history unfold, you really do. You go back home, and people care about what’s going on and watch the news, and they’re involved. But you’re living it. You’re doing it every single day.”

The next big project for the Utah native will be preparing for the birth of her first child, a girl.

“Do these kids come with a manual?” she joked. “We’re in for an adventure, one we’re excited for.”

Asked if she plans to stay in politics after happenstance landed her there, Satterthwaite laughed and said, “I can’t picture myself anywhere else. This is exactly where I was supposed to be.

“Looking back, it’s really cool to see the series of events. It’s like ‘OK, that was totally meant to be.’”

To have your office featured on Inside the Office of…, contact Kris Kitto at 202-628-8539 or kkitto@digital-release.thehill.com.