Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley remembers when President Donald Trumps first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, promised to make the State Department more diverse. He cited one particular policy: ensuring a minority candidate was considered for all ambassador positions.

They may not be ready, but we will know where the talent pool is, the secretary said at an August 2017 event.

The remark deeply hurt her.

We have been ready, said Abercrombie-Winstanley, a veteran diplomat of ambassador rank who is a Black woman. For years, she said, ambassador selection panels had been told to prioritize diversity, and yet the top ranks of the State Department remained overwhelmingly white and male. Trump ultimately appointed 189 ambassadors only five of whom were Black.

Women and minorities have long been ready, but you have to get beyond that comfort of apples choosing apples. You have to go harder, Abercrombie-Winstanley said.

President Joe Biden has now tasked her with that work. After retiring under Trump, Abercrombie-Winstanley returned to the State Department last month as its first-ever chief diversity and inclusion officer. The high-ranking role was created so that Bidens team can enact sweeping, overdue reform at one of the government agencies most shaken by the Trump era.

She is now one of the most powerful leaders at an institution where 86% of people in the top ranks are white, according to recently released State Department data . Last year, a major Government Accountability Office study found that promotion rates were lower for minorities and that as the agencys staff has grown, its proportions of female and Black employees have declined.

The foreign service still disproportionately gives its best jobs to white men, according to data on promotions for the years 2016 to 2020 obtained by HuffPost. During that period, of the 26 foreign service officers elevated to career minister the highest rank in the service beneath a presidential appointment 23 were white and 17 were male. And every openly LGBTQ ambassador in State Department history has been a white man.