Who Is Tracy Tribby, Carly Fiorina's Stepdaughter?

Carly Fiorina may be rising through the ranks of the GOP race, but for the most part, her family remains a bit of a mystery. We know that Fiorina married her second husband Frank (whom friends described to The Washington Post as a "regular joe") in 1985 after working together at AT&T. We know that the former Hewlett-Packard CEO also lost an adult stepdaughter, Lori Ann, to drug and alcohol abuse in 2009 — the same year that Fiorina was also diagnosed with breast cancer. But even with all the heartbreaking anecdotes and little slips of information with which voters are gifted from time to time, we still don't know much about Carly Fiorina's stepdaughter, Tracy Fiorina Tribby, outside of a few random mentions in feature interviews and media profiles. So who is she, and why haven't we heard much about her?

It seems that the elder Fiorina daughter has embraced her role as a homemaker outside of the limelight — although she's put in plenty of footwork over the years. On Tribby's personal Facebook page, the 44-year-old identifies herself as a mother of two who lives with her family in Virginia. According to an archived website from Fiorina's 2010 U.S. Senate bid, Tribby once co-chaired the Moms for Carly coalition, which was "dedicated to addressing the issues of family values, high-quality education and health care, as well as bringing spending under control and implementing tax reforms that reduce burdens on family budgets and small businesses."

In Tribby's official Moms for Carly coalition bio, Tribby stated that she was a "proud, goal-orientated, full-time stay-at-home mother" who served as an "active volunteer in her community and is highly involved in her daughters' lives," volunteering with such organizations as the Girl Scouts of America and as a "room mom" at the nearby school. In addition to working as a Girl Scout troop leader, Tribby indicated she also led "a high school youth group, Vacation Bible School and an adult Bible study group at her church."

After high school, Tribby first worked at AT&T as an "entry-level union telemarketing representative" before eventually working her way up through the management ranks to become district manager. According to her bio, Tribby also received a B.A. from Strayer University, and later, obtained a "mini MBA" from Penn State University before ultimately deciding to stay home and raise her two daughters, Kara and Morgan.

In her 2007 memoir Rising to the Challenge, Fiorina recalled that Tribby and sister Lori Ann had come into one another's lives "when [they] needed each other the most," as Fiorina had been "eager" for a family. She described then-11-year-old Tracy as being "brunette and looked like her father," while the younger Lori Ann, 6, was blonde with "bright, sparkling eyes."

Although the elder daughter and her family were struck with tragedy in 2009 upon Lori Ann's death, it seems that the hardworking mother of two went on to transform that same tragedy into something bigger than herself, gleaning more than a few important lessons from her successful parents.

"Tracy learned the importance of hard work and the value of family from her parents, Frank and Carly," she wrote in her Moms for Carly bio.