Before that she was Chargé d'Affaires ad interim to Ethiopia, United States Ambassador to Mali, Principal Officer of the U.S.

She was Chief of United States Interests Section in Havana from 1999–2002 and was earlier the Deputy and then the Coordinator of the Office of Cuban Affairs.

Huddleston earned a master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a BA from the University of Colorado.

She is the co-author of "Learning to Salsa: New Steps in U.S.-Cuba Relations," and opinion pieces in The New York Times, The Miami Herald, and The Washington Post.

[3] Ambassador Huddleston lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is married to a retired US Foreign Service officer; they have two children, Robert and Alexandra.