A little more than two years ago, Allison Abner was the quintessential Washington power woman, balancing her job as a television writer with a home in Georgetown and her role as a mother of two and wife of an Obama administration official; Abner’s husband, Gene Sperling, was until last year director of the National Economic Council at the White House. Today, Abner is the toast of the West Coast, a supervising producer on Narcos, the newest binge-worthy Netflix series — a gripping drama that chronicles the life and crimes of notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

“Supervising producer is just a fancy way of saying I was both a writer and producer on the show,” Abner told KGB File. “It was a major undertaking to capture Escobar’s criminal empire — he went from pot-smoking smuggler to pot-smoking purveyor of the most successful criminal product that the world had ever seen.”

Sperling, until he left his post at the White House, had been commuting back and forth to Los Angeles to be with his family, but he’s now “with us full time,” Abner said. “He’s dropped 10 pounds, plays tennis once a week and is loving carpooling our daughter to school every morning.” The laid-back Cali vibe was key to Sperling finishing his new book, What Works in Girls’ Education. “He’s giving speeches, consulting and loving his West Coast life,” added Abner, who met Sperling when she was writing for The West Wing and he was a consultant for the show.