The Glamorous Transformation Of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

From small-town girl to political powerhouse, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has undergone a glamorous transformation since becoming part of President Donald Trump's team. A longtime Trump supporter, the New Hampshire native is the youngest person to be appointed to the prestigious position, and from her early days as an intern during the president's first term, she has proved why she's right for the job, age be damned. Much like the commander-in-chief, Leavitt is fierce and fearless when taking on the press. As she said at a campaign rally, per The Times, she had "the great pleasure of fighting the fake news media all day," and she is not afraid to criticize and call out seasoned members of the media for bias, a practice that once resulted in CNN turning off her mic. 

While having an employee silenced by one of the top news shows in the country might cause embarrassment for some employers, Leavitt's boss had nothing but the highest praise for his hire. In a statement the president released per The Washington Post announcing his appointment of the blunt blonde to the role, he said, "Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again." From her polished appearance to her professional mannerisms, it appears Leavitt is off to a good start.

Small towns often breed big success stories. That seemed to be the case for Karoline Leavitt, who grew up in Atkinson, New Hampshire, a town with a population of fewer than 8,000. In an interview with The Eagle-Tribune, Leavitt said that she thought growing up in New Hampshire sparked her interest in politics from an early age. "I grew up very interested in politics and the media. It was in my blood," she said. "The fact that New Hampshire hosts the first-in-the-country presidential primary and the candidates have always come there probably played a role in my passion." 

It also played a role in her personality. Leavitt came from a family who understood the value of working hard for what you want. She and her two brothers were star athletes who excelled at both the high school and college levels. When she wasn't working on her softball skills, Leavitt worked in the family's ice cream parlor. She credits her father, Bob, with instilling a strong work ethic in his children, and said he "played a huge role" in her life. "My dad came from nothing and worked his way up, created a successful business that my brothers now work at," she said. "He didn't take any handouts from anyone. He reminds me of President Trump. He says what he believes." Sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree. 

Thanks to her all-star skills on the softball field, Karoline Leavitt slid into St. Anselm Catholic College on a scholarship. After a couple of years, however, the aspiring political journalist realized that she wanted to trade in her softball mitt for a mic and start playing hardball in Washington. An internship at Fox News further fueled her fire, and Leavitt began focusing her efforts on political writing, often penning pieces for her school paper. In one article she claimed, "The liberal media is unjust, unfair, and sometimes just plain old false." That statement echoed one made by the president at the time, and the young Republican began to shoot for a spot on Trump's team.

After completing a rigorous application process during her junior year at St. Anselm, Leavitt landed a summer internship as a writer in the presidential correspondence office. "I had never even been to Washington, D.C., before," she told The Eagle-Tribune. "Then I get a call that I was chosen. I was stunned." The unglamorous job involved little more than writing notes and other public correspondence on White House letterhead on behalf of President Donald Trump. Although not the most hard-hitting job, Leavitt knocked it out of the park. And while the New Hampshire native didn't know it at the time, that summer gig would be the stepping stone she needed to pave her path to a high-profile career.

With her combination of tenacity and talent on full display as an intern, Karoline Leavitt was offered a full-time job in the Presidential Correspondence Office after graduation. As her confidence grew, so did her aspirations. She set her sights on Pennsylvania Avenue, and when an opportunity arose to work under White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, she leapt at the chance to join the White House Press Office. In her interview with The Eagle-Tribune, the normally poised and professional young woman recalled the anxiety she felt at that fateful interview. "I usually don't get nervous in interviews, but I was visibly shaking and almost blacked out," Leavitt said. "I've been nervous in games before, but this was different. This was Kayleigh McEnany and the White House."

She needn't have worried. McEnany was impressed enough to offer Leavitt the job that would change the trajectory of her life. This role required more of the bubbly blonde than simply writing thank you letters. "My role is being the first line of defense with Kayleigh," Leavitt said. "I'm there to answer questions, play defense. It's not an easy job. The reporters are demanding, which is understandable. The questions come all day — calls, emails, statements ... whatever." Her dedication and performance didn't go unnoticed by President Donald Trump, a man she described as "very easy to talk to." And although his first term as president was coming to an end, Leavitt's career was just getting started. 

With President Donald Trump out of office (albeit temporarily), Karoline Leavitt was out of a job but onto the career path that would ultimately lead back to the White House. Undeterred, she capitalized on her brief political experience and her love of her home state to take a stab at becoming the youngest person ever elected to Congress. She used her youth as an advantage and billed herself as a "Generation Z Conservative" with her finger on the pulse of the unique issues and concerns that this modern and underrepresented generation faced. "I wanted to be part of that change and part of the movement that brings young Americans onto our team, because the reality is the liberal Democrat policies of this administration and Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and my Democrat opponent are making life completely unaffordable for Generation Z Americans," she said per The Washington Post. "My goal, as a Generation Z conservative, is to speak that truth and bring people to our side of the aisle."

Leavitt won the primary but lost the election to her much older, male Democrat counterpart Representative Chris Pappas, who already had two terms under his belt. Some argue that while the young woman one voter described as "feisty" positioned her age as an asset, some may have seen it as a liability. Mike Bouchard, 64, told The Washington Post that although he wasn't completely on board with Pappas, the Democrat would get his vote because Leavitt was "very, very young. That's a big job for a 25-year-old kid."

Not securing a congressional seat turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Karoline Leavitt, who was tapped by President Trump to be his campaign press secretary as he launched his White House comeback. After his successful campaign, he elevated Leavitt to the position of White House press secretary, a role that saw no fewer than five people come and go during Trump's first term in office. In a case of life coming full circle, the most recent person to hold the title, Kayleigh McEnany, was the one who hired Leavitt for her first job in the White House Press Office. Her ascent came as no surprise to her former boss. "Karoline has a bright future in media, politics, or whatever field she chooses," McEnany told The Eagle-Tribune about her former protégé. "She is a standout talent on the press staff and has exceeded any and all expectations."

Since assuming her new position, Levitt has made multiple appearances on Fox News, where she has shared that "Americans are digesting their news in various different forms," and mentioned podcasts as one avenue that has proved successful for the president. She assured the public that "[w]e will certainly look at options on how to respect the tradition of the White House while also ensuring that the press briefing room reflects the media habits of the American people today."

When Karoline Leavitt received the invitation from Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, President Trump's co-campaign managers, to serve as Trump's campaign press secretary on his second bid for office, there was one fly in the ointment — or more accurately, bun in the oven. Leavitt was expecting her first child with husband Nicholas Riccio, and she hadn't yet shared the news publicly. "Knowing I was going to have a baby in the middle of a presidential campaign — which, I found out, is no easy thing to do — they couldn't have been more accepting and welcoming of me," she told The Conservateur about the conversations that ensued. 

The young mother-to-be accepted the job and worked up until the last weeks of her pregnancy when she delivered a healthy baby boy, Nicholas Robert aka Niko. Just three days into her maternity leave, however, there was an assassination attempt on Trump, and Leavitt made the choice to go right back into the trenches, appearing on Fox News looking radiant just four days postpartum. "I felt compelled to be present in this historic moment," she explained in the interview. "The president literally put his life on the line to win this election. The least I could do is get back to work quickly." Leavitt's ability to multitask is next level. As she told The Conservateur, "I have legitimately done my makeup while nursing my baby while talking on the phone prepping for my TV hit all at the same time." That ability, along with her determined attitude, is part of what has made Leavitt a force to be reckoned with in the political world.

If you're going to work for the notoriously outspoken President Donald Trump, it is helpful if you not only buy into the brand but deliver it in a no-nonsense, unapologetic manner. Karoline Leavitt does just that, drinking the Kool-Aid and sharing it in a way that leaves little room for opposing opinions. Her direct and sometimes confrontational style has made for — if not goodwill among reporters — at least good television. She famously slammed CNN reporters while appearing on CNN, questioning whether they could be trusted as neutral moderators in an upcoming presidential debate. That conversation escalated into a situation so tense that the CNN presenter Kasie Hunt silenced Leavitt by cutting off her mic. 

Since the election, she has demanded an apology from Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde for her statements during the service at the National Cathedral in Washington as part of Trump's inauguration. In an appearance on Fox News' "The Story With MacCallum," Leavitt said, "I was there with President Trump and everybody there was shocked and mortified by the disturbing comments from this bishop, who chose to weaponize the pulpit. She had an opportunity to pray over the president and the vice president and their families who were sitting in the first pews, and she spoke about truth, which was very ironic, because words later, she spewed lies." With such a fiery start, Leavitt has proved she will continue to stand up for her president and her party.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that is something that Karoline Leavitt is experiencing firsthand as a first-time mom. Her own mother reportedly quit her job at a yoga studio to help out while her daughter traveled the campaign trail, but it is her husband, businessman Nicholas Riccio, who is Leavitt's behind-the-scenes source of strength. The blond beauty met Riccio, who is more than 30 years her senior, through a mutual friend at a political event. He popped the question on Christmas Day 2023, and in an Instagram post capturing the moment, Leavitt gushed, "I get to marry the man of my dreams. I feel SO overwhelmingly BLESSED. Thank you God." Their son was born less than a year later. 

As visible as her public persona is, Leavitt's private life remains just that. Although she gives her entrepreneurial hubby the occasional social media shout-out, he prefers to remain low-key with no social media presence of his own. Whether or not they have officially tied the knot is also unclear, despite her engagement post featuring a sparkling rock on her ring finger. The only thing some seem to know about Riccio is his rags-to-riches success story, living on the street before developing a multimillion-dollar real estate business, Riccio Enterprises LLC.

With her blond mane and fresh-faced appeal, Karoline Leavitt has possessed an all-American girl-next-door kind of beauty throughout her life. However, Leavitt's appearance has drastically changed since Trump hired her as a spokesperson. In fact, she looks quite a bit like members of Trump's own family with her more stylish suiting, bouncy blowouts, and meticulous makeup, which call to mind the transformation of POTUS' daughter, Ivanka Trump. Is it coincidence? Some would say no. Refinery29 journalist Maria Del Russo once pointed out that "the women who press [Trump's] message all look like variations of each other." She added, "Yes, it's crass to judge a woman by her looks, but it's impossible to ignore the fact that the women of Trumpland all share a similar aesthetic: beauty queen." Elizabeth Clark-Polner, an associate research scholar who studies implicit bias at Yale University, agreed. "Trump is so image-obsessed that he surrounds himself with a very specific type of person," she said in the article. "Even his sons' wives look similar to one another and to their sister Ivanka."

The common denominator, blond hair aside, is that the Trump women have what Dr. Clyde Ishii, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, referred to as the "triangle of youth," marked by high cheekbones and a forehead that is wider than the chin. This is something he sees in many of the women in Trump's realm. "They have an ovoid shape in the cheek, which is an egg shape that extends from the corners of the mouth to the outside of the eye," Dr. Ishii says. Maybe it's because he once owned the Miss Universe pageant, but there's no denying the president has a "type," and Leavitt seems to have embraced it.