Imagine a diplomatic cocktail party in Moscow, circa 1950. The room is dense with the smoke of cold war suspicion, every glance a wary calculation. Now, imagine the scene suddenly shifts: champagne bubbles with laughter as a woman, dressed in a sharply tailored suit, confidently engages a clutch of officials in quick-witted Russian. For most of U.S.-Russia history, this would have been pure fantasy. While famed spies, writers, and even ballerinas danced across the East-West divide, formal diplomacy remained largely a male domain.

Yet, history gently reminds us that sometimes a single figure in heels can quietly pivot the cultural axis. Edith Wilson, after her husband’s stroke, essentially ran the U.S. from behind a lace curtain in the 1910s. And Alexandra Kollontai became the first female ambassador—anywhere—in the world when she was posted to Norway for the USSR in 1923. She was so scandalous for her ideas and gender that other envoys sometimes refused to shake her hand.

With the departure of the first female U.S. ambassador to Russia, one can’t help but wonder: what unseen conversations, small gestures, or quiet moments changed the course of icy relations? What might be possible when those rarely allowed a seat at a world-changing table finally stand, extend a hand, and perhaps ask, in impeccable Russian: Shall we dance?

This article was inspired by the headline: 'First female US ambassador to Russia to leave her role'.