Opinion: Karoline Leavitt is an Inspiration to Young, Aspiring Journalists
At age 27, Leavitt became the youngest press secretary in U.S. history
When I tell people I am 20-year-old studying to be a political journalist, I often am met with a skeptical, yet polite look. I think this is because of the stigma around journalism and politics, and that is the idea that you sort of “grow into” the field, slowly but surely, over many decades. It’s after you climb the ladder that you get a seat at the table.
In an environment that’s not particularly known for welcoming young voices, Karoline Leavitt’s rise to press secretary at age 27 shows that it is possible to get on that White House podium as a young person and answer questions from the most seasoned White House reporters, such as FOX News’ Peter Doocy or CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
It’s incredibly inspiring to watch someone who is merely seven years older than me take on the senior most communication position in the White House. She didn’t wait until she was in her fifties like Karine Jean-Pierre or Sean Spicer, both of whom are previous press secretaries for the Biden and first Trump administrations, respectively.
Leavitt was the founder of the broadcasting club at her university, Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. She also wrote at the school’s newspaper. In her sophomore year, she interned at WMUR, an ABC affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire.
She then moved on to an internship in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. In an April 2025 interview with Kate Mackz, she stated that she “literally applied on WhiteHouse.gov and filled out the application.” After graduating in 2019, she was offered a full-time position in that same office, and became its associate director in June 2020.
After President Trump’s failed campaign bid in 2020, she became the communications director for New York representative Elise Stefanik mere weeks before Trump left office. Leavitt had a run for office of her own, that she ultimately lost, for New Hampshire’s First Congressional District in the House of Representatives.
Following her failed congressional bid, she began working as a spokesperson for Trump’s own super PAC, MAGA Inc., and in January 2024 was named the press secretary for Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign. After Trump won the election in November, it was announced that she would serve as his White House press secretary.
Karoline Leavitt’s story challenges a doubt that I have quite often, which is whether my age will keep me from being taken seriously. I sometimes wonder if people will only see me as a student, or someone who is “on the way” but never quite there yet.
You don’t have to agree with all (or any) of Leavitt’s politics to see the true value of her story. Hell, I don’t agree with everything she says. But I fully respect her drive that led her to where she is today, because what really matters is the example she is setting for young people like myself. It’s never “too soon” to get started.
She proves that it is possible to stand at the intersection of power and press in your twenties. For someone like me, writing pieces for fun while dreaming of newsrooms and press briefings, her ambition is nothing short of inspiring.
Her record-setting age is not just a headline to me; it’s a reminder. Ambition doesn’t have a minimum age. Anyone with Leavitt’s kind of drive can go farther and faster than the world expects.