(CNN) Tuesday's State Dinner with France is a major moment of diplomacy for the Trump administration, but it's also the culmination of months of thoughtful work and attention to detail by first lady Melania Trump and her East Wing staff.

Trump got a slow start to filling her East Wing team compared with her recent predecessors, putting her first hire, chief of staff Lindsay Reynolds, in place two weeks after the Inauguration.

"I am putting together a professional and highly experienced team, which will take time to do properly," the first lady said in a statement at the time. "I am excited to be organizing and bringing together such a dynamic and forward-thinking group of individuals who will work together to make our country better for everyone."

Since then, she's added a social secretary, a communications director, a policy director and a communications coordinator, among others, bringing the East Wing staff total to 10, still a relatively lean office. Michelle Obama and Laura Bush both had about 25 staffers by the time their husbands left office.

"The team is small but mighty," communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN.

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