Ava Sterling

Her story

Ava grew up on the Charleston harbor, the daughter of a shrimp-boat captain and a church pianist. Her father had her up before dawn to help mend nets, and her mother made sure she was in the front pew every Sunday. She says she learned patience from one and how to hold a room from the other.

She was a state debate champion in high school and studied political science at the University of South Carolina, then went to work as a press aide in the statehouse in Columbia. A few years later she was on Capitol Hill as a staffer, learning how bills really move, who keeps their word and who doesn’t.

She traded the staff badge for a press pass because she wanted to tell people what she saw instead of spinning it. Today she covers Congress from the Speaker’s office to the back benches.